Governors Island’s Castle Williams is closing to build walk on the roof
Over its 200-year history, Castle Williams has been a military fortress, a prison for Confederate soldiers, a pig grazing pen and a teen center.
Now, the National Park Service hopes to turn the red sandstone fort on Governors Island into a museum. The full plans will take 20 years and $60 million to realize, but the N.P.S. recently started cleaning and stabilizing the three-story, doughnut-shaped building using a $6.4 million federal grant.
“Every layer of its use — as a fort, a barracks, a prison, a daycare center — every layer of that right now is still there,” said Michael Shaver, chief ranger on Governors Island with the N.P.S. “We’re just going to clean the tarnish off those layers so you can still make them out.”
Most recently, Castle Williams, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has become a daytrip destination. Drawn to the weathered facade and ghostly, crumbling courtyard, about 50,000 tourists and history aficionados visited the castle last year, according to the N.P.S.
“It’s just weird and funky and very inviting,” Shaver said. “You see it on the ferry coming over here and it’s one of those things you want to check out.”
Castle Williams will be closed this summer because of the restoration work, which includes asbestos and lead abatement. When it reopens in May 2011, visitors will be able to explore not just the fort’s round courtyard but also the roof and some of the interior, which have never been open to the public....
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Now, the National Park Service hopes to turn the red sandstone fort on Governors Island into a museum. The full plans will take 20 years and $60 million to realize, but the N.P.S. recently started cleaning and stabilizing the three-story, doughnut-shaped building using a $6.4 million federal grant.
“Every layer of its use — as a fort, a barracks, a prison, a daycare center — every layer of that right now is still there,” said Michael Shaver, chief ranger on Governors Island with the N.P.S. “We’re just going to clean the tarnish off those layers so you can still make them out.”
Most recently, Castle Williams, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has become a daytrip destination. Drawn to the weathered facade and ghostly, crumbling courtyard, about 50,000 tourists and history aficionados visited the castle last year, according to the N.P.S.
“It’s just weird and funky and very inviting,” Shaver said. “You see it on the ferry coming over here and it’s one of those things you want to check out.”
Castle Williams will be closed this summer because of the restoration work, which includes asbestos and lead abatement. When it reopens in May 2011, visitors will be able to explore not just the fort’s round courtyard but also the roof and some of the interior, which have never been open to the public....