Roosevelt Island
Take the Roosevelt Island Tramway over the East River for a unique perspective on the City. Once closed to the public, today Roosevelt Island is home to a residential community and a number of parks and landmarks. At the island’s southern end, the Louis Kahn–designed Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park offers public programming and family-friendly events. Also in the historical vein: the Renwick Ruin, a former smallpox hospital; the Octagon tower, the remnants of an insane asylum; and, on the northern tip, a 19th-century lighthouse anchoring a park from where visitors can get wide-angle views of NYC.

In the 1930s, landscape architects transformed Mason’s Island from neglected, overgrown farmland into Theodore Roosevelt Island, a memorial to America’s 26th president. They conceived a “real forest” designed to mimic the natural forest that once covered the island. Today miles of trails through wooded uplands and swampy bottomlands honor the legacy of a great outdoorsman and conservationist.