New York Farm Colony
Staten Island’s Abandoned Potter’s Field

Though it has become a source of disturbance and confusion, my want to uncover the abandoned lands that hold lost asylum patients has compelled me to trudge into thorny thickets now thrice. (Sorry, watching a Jane Austen movie).

I was a bit uneasy this visit, having caught sight of several duos within the decaying buildings—and admittedly being in a bit of a quarantine-based funk and not my usual disarming self. The crisp and rich scenery in which I was enveloped within, a jarring change from days at home.

But once I found my way off the well-worn paths, happening upon a feeding deer, there was not a soul in sight. The swaying branches creaked like familiar kitchen cabinets. The thorns, I was getting better at avoiding them by lifting my foot way in the air like the guy in Monty Python. Once I was here: 40.5967890, -74.1367620 (Thank you for Find-a-Grave updaters who are dedicated to sharing details of these forsaken gravesites.) there was that disturbance.

The cemetery area, which is a short walk from the structures visible from Brielle Avenue and about half a mile from the entrance next to the recreation center, is completely overgrown. I had the feeling that it hadn’t been visited in quite some time, based on the throwback labels of the soda cans about.

Under my feet, hundreds of deceased, some buried in mass graves. Also under my feet, the amputated limbs from Seaview Hospital, which merged with the New York Farm Colony in 1915. (source) No markers…

…but nature had made its own division of the land, make-shift mounds. Domes of twigs that confused me.

The Staten Island division of Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries Inc. is reportedly trying to acquire a burial list and an archeological assessment of the entire New York Farm Colony property in 2014 seemed to assess the area’s land features. But jeez, it’s such a technical document that I had no patience to read it. You read it and tell what it all means.

There were some old columns that the archeological assessment called “central pillars.”

On my way out, I took some pictures of some storage sheds I had never explored… since they were ripped open.

This looks like a romantic spot

The grounds are more and more dilapidated every time I come… and I was only here a couple of weeks ago!

Never saw this mechanical room before. Ok, ok I should go!

In the parking lot is the old incinerator. And there was a way in, but not this time.

Before I head back on the bridge, a special contact-free delivery of my cinnamon swirl bread for my work wife. I miss giving out my treats!