"Welfare Island": Roosevelt Island from the Tramway to FDR State Park

(42 reviews)

New York City audio tour: "Welfare Island": Roosevelt Island from the Tramway to FDR State Park

This is a 0.8mi walking tour

It takes an average of 45 mins to complete.

New York City

The United States

$6.99

Access all 13 locations offline with the VoiceMap app

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About the Tour

Discover the fascinating history of Roosevelt Island, from a sliver of farmland off of Manhattan to the home of New York City’s unwanted: prisoners, the mentally ill, and those with contagious diseases. On this walking tour, I’ll show you the island’s southern end where I’ll unpack some of its complicated 400-year-long history.

Having grown up on Roosevelt Island, I love sharing the amazing history of this place and how it was transformed from the island of the unwanted into a thriving community. While you walk, you’ll see what’s left of its uncomfortable past and find out how hospitals and penitentiaries were replaced with the fabulous Southpoint Park, Cornell Tech facilities and Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park.

On this 30-minute tour, you’ll also:

See the iconic Roosevelt Island Tramway, the first commuter tramway in the country
Hear about Captain John Manning, the island’s first owner, who was sentenced to permanent exile there
Find out about Blackwell Penitentiary, where Billie Holiday was held for a while
Take in the remains of the Smallpox Memorial Hospital, the only ruin in the city’s National Register of Historic Places
Stroll through the beautiful FDR State Park to the magnificent bronze Franklin Delano Roosevelt sculpture

Join me on this half-mile tour to discover the island’s history while enjoying the backdrop of Manhattan’s skyline.

Tour Producer

Daniel Jordano

1 tour

Known for his distinct and intense NYC style, Daniel is a Cuban-American veteran of stage and screen. Best known for his starring role in Harvey Weinstein's Playing for Keeps (1986), Daniel developed a smoldering urban and charismatic presence in such projects like his recent portrayal of Vincent Mangano in AMC's The Making of the Mob (2015)

Daniel began his career in the underground "No-Wave" Film Movement with his role of Juani in Amos Poe's Alphabet City (1984). He then branched out to theater where he landed the National Tour of the smash Broadway Play, Torch Song Trilogy. He has collaborated with artists as diverse as theater luminary, Herbert Berghof, and Oscar winning screenwriter Bobby Moresco

Daniel is also the founder of Veritas Arts International, a production company through which he wrote and produced his first feature film, Frog Dreams (2011). This critically acclaimed directorial debut, won the Spirit of Queens Award at the Queens World Film Festival.

Most recently as an actor, Daniel played a man who is convinced his house is haunted in Before Someone Gets Hurt (2018), a sniveling pool hall owner in Holy Fire (2017), and an immigrant chop-shop owner in Lucky (2016)

As a filmmaker, more recently Daniel wrote and directed the comedy pilot, Brooklyn Vans (2020), which is set to premiere at the New Filmmakers Film Festival in October 2020 in NYC.

Daniel loves telling people about places he knows. Look for more tours soon.

Preview Location

Location 1

Tour Start: Roosevelt Island Tramway Intro

Hello and welcome to this VoiceMap tour of Roosevelt Island. It's a special place as you'll find out.

You should be standing just at the entrance to the Roosevelt Island Tramway on the Island.

Roosevelt Island is a 2-mile island strip nestled in the East River between M... Hello and welcome to this VoiceMap tour of Roosevelt Island. It's a special place as you'll find out.

You should be standing just at the entrance to the Roosevelt Island Tramway on the Island.

Roosevelt Island is a 2-mile island strip nestled in the East River between Manhattan and the borough of Queens. It's very thin, measuring only 250 yards wide and straddled by the Queensborough bridge. It's a mostly residential island of 14,000 people, next to one of the richest and greatest residential islands in the world. I'm speaking about Manhattan of course. Our journey will take us to the southern tip only about half a mile away.

My name is Daniel Jordano by the way and I'm an actor and a longtime resident of the Island. In fact, I grew up here. I'm also a film director so I enjoy telling people where to go and what to do.

You might be wondering how VoiceMap works. Well, it uses your location to move the story along automatically. Occasionally a picture will appear on your screen to accompany the audio. Just keep your eyes open and don't worry too much about short periods of silence along the way. They're normal. There is always a map on screen as well that you can refer to if there’s a problem. And if you do get way off track, VoiceMap will let you know.

The Roosevelt Island Tramway opened in 1976. The tramway is the first commuter aerial tramway in North America. It offers spectacular views of the city and especially the Queensborough Bridge which it runs alongside. The Tramway has become an iconic part of New York City. Seen in many films like Spiderman, Dark Waters, and countless TV shows.

The Roosevelt Island Tramway contains two cabins that each run back and forth, suspended from their own pair of cables. Each cabin has a capacity of up to 125 people. It makes approximately 115 trips per day and travels at 16 mph, climbing up to 250 ft high. It was totally renovated in 2010 with everything replaced except the cable towers. If you haven't taken it yet and arrived here some other way, be sure to take the 3-minute ride, you won't regret it.

Let's get going. Keep the tramway on your left and walk down the block to the Visitor's kiosk. Read More

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Major Landmarks

City Viewpoint
Cornell Tech
Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island Tramway
Roosevelt Island Tramway - Island station
Strecker Memorial Laboratory / CBG 603
Smallpox Memorial Hospital
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park
Southpoint Park
Roosevelt Island Visitor Center Kiosk
FDR Hope Memorial

View all

Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
W Main St, New York, NY 10044, USA
Total distance

1km
Final location
1 FDR Four Freedoms Park, 1 FDR Four Freedoms Park, Roosevelt Island, NY 10044, USA
Distance back to start location

1km

Directions to Starting Point

Take the Roosevelt Island Tramway at 59th St. and 2nd Ave to the Island. The tour begins once you get off the tram on the Island. Or you can take the F Train to Roosevelt Island and walk south to the tramway station.

Show Directions

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Cornell Tech Cafe,

Best time of day

Morning to early afternoon,

Precautions

Have Metrocard ready. Tramway takes cards same as Subway

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“This app has become my go-to app for audio tours. I pretty much use it for every trip and it works wonderfully. I highly recommend VoiceMap for travelers to truly experience cities.”

App Store Review

“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”