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Stay safe in the heat: Drink plenty of water, spend time in the shade, and visit the first aid station at Soissons Landing if you feel unwell. Click here for important warm weather visitor information.

Stay safe in the heat: Drink plenty of water, spend time in the shade, and visit the first aid station at Soissons Landing if you feel unwell. Click here for important warm weather visitor information.

Blog

Cas­tle Williams under­goes abate­ment and stabilization

Feb 24, 2010 6:33 pm
Cas­tle Williams is a part of the Gov­er­nors Island Nation­al Mon­u­ment and is one of the most unique struc­tures on Gov­er­nors Island. The Cas­tle is a cir­cu­lar fort made of red sand­stone and it was built between 1807 and 1811 under the direc­tion of Colonel Jonathan Williams, then the Chief Engi­neer of the US Army Corps of Engi­neers. [cap­tion id=“attachment_2755” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“Castle Williams was one com­po­nent of a defen­sive har­bor sys­tem that includ­ed sev­er­al forts around New York Har­bor”][/​caption] Over the course of its his­to­ry when the US Army was on Gov­er­nors Island, it was used as a for­ti­fi­ca­tion to pro­tect New York Har­bor, a bar­racks for troops head­ing off to war, a prison for Con­fed­er­ate sol­diers, and a mil­i­tary prison. Dur­ing the Coast Guard era, it was remod­eled into a youth com­mu­ni­ty cen­ter with a nurs­ery, meet­ing rooms for scouts and clubs, a wood­work­ing shop, art stu­dio, pho­tog­ra­phy lab and a muse­um. One of the most out­stand­ing aspects of the Cas­tle is the view from its roof. From that van­tage point, vis­i­tors can not only enjoy the incred­i­ble vista of the Har­bor and the sky­line, but they can appre­ci­ate and under­stand the mean­ing and sig­nif­i­cance of Gov­er­nors Island’s strate­gic loca­tion in the Har­bor and its role in the nation’s his­to­ry. Over the past sev­er­al years, while vis­i­tors have been able to walk into the inte­ri­or court­yard of the Cas­tle, they could not access the inte­ri­or or the roof. This is about to change, how­ev­er. The Nation­al Park Ser­vice on Gov­er­nors Island has received fund­ing through the Amer­i­can Recov­ery and Rein­vest­ment Act to abate haz­ardous mate­ri­als, remove health and safe­ty haz­ards, and repair the Cas­tle. This work is just begin­ning and will con­tin­ue over the next year. 

[cap­tion id=“attachment_2758” align=“aligncenter” width=“300” caption=“View of the Castle’s inte­ri­or and roof, with the NYC sky­line. Vis­i­tors will have access to the Cas­tle again in 2011, just in time for its 200th birth­day (pho­to by Andrew Moore)”][/​caption] Once this work is com­plet­ed next year, it will allow vis­i­tors access to the Cas­tle to expe­ri­ence Gov­er­nors Island’s his­to­ry in entire­ly new and excit­ing ways.

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