How did it take 35 years for anyone to find out William Boken was dead?
It’s a question we’ve been asked often since news broke last week of the discovery of human remains believed to be Louise Pietrewicz buried beneath Mr. Boken’s former basement.
Kevin Germany walked out of a hospital in 1990 and disappeared. In 2018, his family learned where he had been, a sad answer to his mother’s wish.
With thousands of deceased buried beneath its surface, Hart Island is home to the largest publicly funded cemetery on the planet. Hidden away on the northeastern edge of New York City on the Long Island Sound, it’s off-limits to the general public. Since the 1800s, it’s acted as a potter’s field, or a mass grave that serves as the final resting place for many of the city’s most disenfranchised citizens.
NEW YORK (CBS New York) — There have been more than a million people buried in the mass graves on Hart Island since 1869, but since the damage of Hurricane Sandy, that’s become a gruesome problem.
“My baby was buried right near the water,” Dr. Laurie Grant from the Hart Island Project told CBS2’s Natalie Duddridge.
Despite damage from superstorm Sandy to cemetery land exposing human remains on Hart Island, repairs won’t begin for two years — a situation that shocks those concerned about the future of the nation’s largest public burial ground.
More information to follow.
St. Brendan Catholic Church is one block from the D train. For more information call 718-547-6655.
Join The Hart Island Project at the Historic Districts Council for a Participant-Driven Preservation Conference: Open to the Public!
Vote to hear us talk about how the Civil War influenced burials in New York City.
Notice how Hart Island is missing from this map of greenspaces in the Bronx? It's time to speak-up. Please join The Hart Island Project for the 24th Annual Bronx Parks Speak Up on Saturday, February 24 from 11am-5pm. The tabling and networking time will begin at 11 am and last until 12 Noon. A free lunch is provided and we will have HIP t-shirts and DVDs for sale.
The Future of NYC Culture and Arts: A conversation with New York City Speaker Candidates.
Moderator: Juan Manuel Benítez, Journalist, Anchor, Reporter, NY1 News.
The Hart Island Project is a community engagement partner. If you have any questions about the forum, please feel free to contact Roberto.Ragone@gmail.com or at 917-923-4765
Due to popular demand, the Historic Districts Council and The Hart Island Project will narrate a second trip to and around Hart Island, the city's Potter's Field. It will begin at Pier 66, West 26th Street and 12th Avenue in Chelsea. We will trace the original route from Bellevue Hospital, past Roosevelt Island, through the Hells Gate, past Riker's Island and on to Hart Island on the eastern edge of the Bronx in the Long Island Sound. This trip not recommended for young children. Please bring your own snacks and sunscreen.
