Why tours of Hart Island, NYC's remote, public burial ground, are a hot ticket

HART ISLAND, the Bronx (PIX11) -- It's a remote location where a million souls are buried in mass graves. Despite the fact that it may sound frightening to some people, the tour of Hart Island has now become one of the hardest-to-get tickets of all of New York's many offerings, in the year that it's been available. 

PIX11 News was invited to take the half-mile boat trip to the island off the shore of the eastern end of the Bronx for the tour that few people are lucky enough to be able to do. Admission is by lottery, even though it's a trip to a burial ground.

It's what used to be called Potters Field -- the city's public cemetery for 155 years. For all but one of those years, the public cemetery has in fact been closed to the public. Next month marks one year since the twice-per-month public tours began. 

As Kasha Pazdar, one of the urban park rangers who lead the tour, pointed out, the demand to go on the tour has outstripped the city's ability to accommodate the requests. 

"We hope that in the future," Pazdar said in an interview, "that there may be more funding for both increased tours -- having staff to lead the tours -- as well as increased funding for transportation."

The island that's only accessible by a New York City Department of Transportation ferry is by far the most popular activity offered by its partner agency, the Parks Department. There's a one in ten chance of winning the lottery to get a ticket to the tour of the mostly open, grassy island off the east side of City Island. 

A million New Yorkers have been buried on Hart Island since the 1860s.

"We do know their name, we know who they are, what age they were," said Pazdar, the urban park ranger tour guide. The reasons why Hart Island is the final resting place for so many vary, but typically, Pazdar said, it's due to a "lack of affording private burial, or not having a loved one to claim your body at your time of death." 

The tour for the general public usually lasts two-and-a-half hours, and covers half of the island. There are separate tours for the northern half and the southern half of Hart Island. Details about past facilities on the mile-long island, including a mental health asylum, a military post housing Nike missiles, prison facilities and other infrastructure are deeply explored. 

The tour also provides some moments to be quiet, and reflective, as part of the itinerary. 

While the public tours are held on two Tuesdays per month, the island is also exclusively available for access during one weekend per month for visits to the mass grave areas, by family and friends of the deceased. 

Nearly all of the dozens of historic buildings on the island had to be razed due to their disrepair and the presence of harmful materials, like asbestos. However, due to public outcry, Hart Island's chapel has been maintained, even though it had been declared structurally unsound when tours began in November of last year. 

In the ensuing months, structural reinforcement work has been underway on the iconic structure. It represents how the island is changing, as it continues to become both a final resting place for some, and a place of quiet, historical fascination for the people who come to the island, and then depart. 

The tour, including the ferry ride, is free of charge, and occurs on two different Tuesdays per month. Qualifying for the ticket lottery is done through the NYC Parks website.