New York Hell Gate History Walking Tour

Delve into off-the-beaten-path New York history on the Hell Gate walking tour.
Hell Gate is the one-mile stretch of the East River between Manhattan and Queens where countless ships were sunk or destroyed by the terrifying rocks, reefs, and whirlpools. Discover the islands in and around Hell Gate—Wards, Roosevelt, Rikers, North & South Brother—as seen from Randall’s Island (accessible on foot, by car, or by bicycle via the RFK Bridge—from East Harlem, Astoria, and Port Morris—or the Wards Island Bridge/103rd Street Footbridge from Manhattan).

Main features:

Find out about Hell Gate’s ship-swallowing whirlpools.

Learn about the plot to blow up the Hell Gate Bridge.

Discover the river pirates of the Hell Gate islands.

Hear about the Hell Gate Explosions and the General Slocum Disaster.

Peer at the jail complex of Rikers Island and the quarantine ruins of North Brother Island.

Meeting Point

Randall’s Island Athletic Field #83

40.7848166 -73.9352736, E River Ln, New York, NY 10035, USA

Randall's Island Park (the collective name for Randall’s Island to the north and Wards Island to the south) at the Wards Island end of Wards Island Bridge (also known as 103rd Street Footbridge). The Wards Island Bridge connects the island to East Harlem in Manhattan.

What to expect:

Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Wards Island Park

Wards Island, New York City, 10035, New York

Vantage point to view Hell Gate, Mill Rock, and Roosevelt Island.

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Randalls and Wards Islands

New York City, New York

A vantage point to Astoria Park and the Triborough Bridge, and features of Wards Island.

20 minutes

Hell Gate Bridge

East River, Randall's Island and the Bronx, New York City, 11105, New York

At the Wards Island end of Hell Gate Bridge, tour attendees will hear about the unusual engineering of an iconic bridge as well as the plot to blow it up.

15 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Randall's Island Park

20 Randall's Island Park, New York City, 10035-5197, New York

Tour attendees will see the remainder of Little Hell Gate that separated the islands, the truss bridge over the covered strait, and classic film locations. Will see the northern part of Hell Gate from Sunken Meadow, the former islands adjoined to Astoria, and the power plants of the East River.
A vantage point of Rikers Island, North and South Brother Islands, and the biggest prison barge in the world.

35 minutes • Admission Ticket Included