Hart Island Nike Missile Site

Category: Military Sites/Structures

The 101-acre island once served as a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. The U.S. Navy had a disciplinary barracks here during WWII and beginning in 1955 for seven years of the Cold War the U.S. Army Air Defense Command established a "Nike" missile launcher area (NY15). remnants of piers built by the Army to transport missiles survive on the western shore. Today, the Corrections Department manages the city's "Potter's Field" cemetery for more than 800,000 unclaimed dead. There is no public access to the island.