Hart Island, also known as the
Island of the Dead, is a massive burial ground for people too poor to
afford a proper funeral or bodies who were never claimed by family
members.
Located in New York, it has worked as a cemetery since 1869, after
being a Civil War prison camp, a tuberculosis hospital and an asylum for
the insane. It holds the remains of at least 1 million people. Inmates
work as gravediggers and groundkeepers in the otherwise abandoned
island.
Until last weekend, families weren’t allowed to visit the actual spot
where their loved ones were buried, they could only look at the scenery
from a gazebo. The DOC fortunately changed that, offering closure to
many.
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