Just west of Riker's Island in the East River is North Brother Island, an island that from 1885 to 1942 was a quarantine for typhoid, smallpox, TB, cholera, scarlet fever, and leprosy, among others. The hospital was well known for holding "Typhoid" Mary Mallon against her will. Following the hospital's use as containment for infectious disease, it was repurposed to house WWII veterans then finally became a drug rehabilitation center until its official closing in 1963. Nearly 50 years later, North Brother Island's Riverside Hospital has been left to the elements, for the most part without interruption from people. The location is one of only a small handful of New York City abandonments that has been allowed to undergo the process of decay, naturally. Today the island is a protected migration for a species of herons that have since left the island for unknown reasons.
Sound inspiration by Radiohead: Treefingers (Kid A) into Weird Fishes/Arpeggi (In Rainbows)