• 16th Infantry Regiment, Fort Jay, New York City, 1938.

    Governors Island

    National Monument New York

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  • Governors Island closed July 4th

    The island will be closed on July 4th and no National Park Service tours or programs will take place that day. NPS weekday ranger tours and programs will still be offered on Wednesday, July 3rd and Friday July 5th.

  • Phone number change

    Hurricane Sandy destroyed the island's telephone connections to Manhattan. Our temporary information number for the park is now via cell phone at 646-241-2670. Other contact information can be found at www.nps.gov/gois/contacts. More »

Ranger Programs

Did You Know?

General John J. Pershing about 1916.

At the start of American entry into World War I and just before leaving Governors Island in May 1917 to lead the 2 million soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force in France, General John J. Pershing (1860-1948) ran uptown into Manhattan to register early for the draft of the very army he was leading to France. He was going to be busy and out of town on draft registration day.