Photograph

Park Ranger Holds a Warning Sign for Pedestrians Crossing an Active Golf Course
U.S. Coast Guard / New York Support Center

When Superintendent Linda Neal arrived at the newly established Governors Island National Monument in May 2003, she found this sign toppled over on the grounds surrounding the star-shaped, War of 1812-era fortification, Fort Jay. The sign spoke to the long military control of Governors Island, just off the tip of Manhattan in New York Harbor, first by the U.S. Army from 1794 to 1966 and the U.S. Coast Guard, the most recent occupant who closed their base there in 1996. In January 2003, the 172 acre island was conveyed to the National Park Service to establish a 22 acre national monument and 150 acres to the people of New York for redevelopment into educational, cultural and recreational purposes.

Fort Jay is considered one of the best surviving examples of American defensive fortifications from the early 19th century. It's preservation was due in no small part to its surrounding defensive landscape use as a parade ground, a polo ground and finally since the 1920s, as a golf course - the only one in Manhattan and its worst 8 hole course (one hole had to be played twice). There are few parcels of real estate as sacrosanct on an army post as the golf course, even with multiple intersecting fairways that could pose hazards to even battle hardened officers. Unlike many historic army posts that lost their landscapes and structures to never ending missions during the 20th century, this golf course preserved the fort and its surrounding landscape from encroachment or destruction. Now abandoned, the old course is parkland and a rare open space, just a few minutes ferry ride from Lower Manhattan and the Financial District, which in the early years of the nation, Fort Jay defended.