Adventure Club #2 went to Staten Island's Sea View Hospital which is in the middle of the Staten Island Greenbelt that Erik and I visited last month. My co-adventurists this time were Eric (not Erik!) and Valentina who were both carrying film cameras with light meters and manual focus so their pictures will probably turn out better than mine did. It was a rare sandal weather December day so we took advantage of that and went the long way through "Blood Root Valley" which was great since it's almost far enough away from anything to feel like you're in a real forest.
There are about 10 abandoned buildings which are all eerily similar. Inside there was a lot of debris and rotting away ceilings. The buildings were brick and seemed to be pretty old but there were certain things like a concrete staircase that we thought had to be from the 50's or 60's. I've read that this part of the hospital was used until the 70's so maybe they were renovated right before they were closed.
One of the coolest things that we found was a big pile of metal trash outside of one of the buildings. It was interesting to see how well a lot of it had held up being outside for who knows how long.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Adventure Club #2: Staten Island
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Staten Island Adventure
Erik was visiting last week and we decided to try to get out of the city but it turns out we didn't even have to! We grabbed some samosas and ginger-mango chutney in Jackson Heights on the way down to the Staten Island Ferry and were quickly rolling along the Staten Island Railroad to the New Dorp Station. After eventually figuring out which direction we were facing we made it to High Rock Park which ran right into Latourette Park. We found a series of winding trails marked by painted squares on trees. It was probably one of the last warm days of the year so I even got to wear sandals.
The middle of Latourette Park is supposedly one of the most isolated spots in New York City, a mile from any building! I'd believe it because we didn't even get all the way through before we had to turn back because of the daylight. On the way back we saw the Scooby Doo Van!
