This story is part of an occasional series about New York nightlife.
Tom Begley is not afraid of ghosts.
As a night watchman for Governors Island, often working from dusk until 7am, Mr Begley, 49, wouldn’t be able to do his job if he were easily startled.
“I just think ghosts are former people,” he said as we rode around the nearly empty 172-acre island in a golf cart one recent Friday, accompanied by one of his working dogs, Leader. “So what’s there to be afraid of?”
mr. Begley is one of the lucky few to consistently spend the night on Governors Island, a former military base a short ferry ride from both Manhattan and Brooklyn.
For others curious about what the island looks like in the middle of the night, there’s really only one way to find out: glamping.
With no permanent residents (just 300 species of birds), the island usually attracts a quiet group of visitors who want to enjoy the open fields and beautiful views during the day.
But the Collective Retreats glamping site, which opened in 2018, can accommodate about 70 glamorous campers per night, sleeping in luxurious private tents or lodgings. (Although prices fluctuate depending on demand, the cheapest campground tents usually cost more than $400 per night.)
“It’s expensive, but it’s fun,” says Matt Siegel, who spent his 44th birthday glamping on the island with his wife Jenny and their two children.
It was his first overnight stay, but Mrs. Siegel had camped on the island before, along with the children Ryder (10) and Maren (8). This time they had opted for an early weekend in June in the hope of good weather.
“We had a year where we were late, like the last week of June, and it was scorching,” she said. “And last year we came in early May and it was raining and cold.”
Vanessa Vitale, the chief hospitality officer for Collective Retreats, said the site, located on the west side of the island, used to be just a parking lot.
“I really struggled to grow anything here because it was paved so low,” she said.
“It was extremely difficult to operate,” she added. “You might as well be on the island of Fiji, right? Everything is brought in.”
Building challenges aside, the site now has working toilets, sinks, and showers, as well as accommodations larger than some bedrooms in New York City.
Daily “maker workshops” take place after check-in — a recent one focusing on mezcal and chili combinations — and visitors are encouraged to explore the island before returning to their tents. Aside from dinner, the only activity on offer after dark is making s’mores.
Clare Newman, the president and chief executive of the Trust for Governors Island, which is responsible for the island’s maintenance and operations, estimates that more than 100 people stay on the island on a typical weekend night during the summer, including a mix from glampers, security and emergency teams, a ferry crew and a concierge.
For many, the appeal of Governors Island is that it doesn’t feel like any other part of New York City. There is lush nature and a merciful lack of noise and people.
“This place touches my soul,” said Omar Hassan, 38, as he sat atop a hill to watch the sunset with his fiancée, Isabelle Caous. “And this moment here, it’s one of my dreams.”
Hassan, who moved to New York from Egypt to apply for asylum in 2010, said he and Mrs. Caous, 21, had come from Miami to attend a gala for Immigration Equality, the organization that helped him become a US citizen. to become. † He proposed to Mrs. Caous during the event.
“I used to come here alone and I’d sit there and look at this rock,” he said, pointing to a spot lower on the hill. “I saw couples a few times and wondered if I would ever have this moment.”
While the last ferries usually leave Governors Island at 6am, they run until 10pm on Friday and Saturday evenings so people can stay and enjoy the sunset. Sometimes companies hold private events on the island and charter ferries to go back even later.
Governors Island wasn’t always just a place for visitors. Before the Coast Guard left the base in the late 1990s, approximately 3,000 people lived on the base.
“They had things like supermarkets,” Ms. Newman said of that time. “There was a dry cleaner, there was a cinema.”
But when the federal government sold the island to New York for $1 in 2003, it was on two key terms: The city and state—which jointly controlled it—couldn’t build new homes or a casino on it.
“2005 was the first year we were completely open to the public, and it was only a few weekends a year,” said Ms. Newman. “It’s been a constant march to expand access.”
Governors Island announced in September that instead of closing to the public on October 31, it would remain open 365 days a year. Since then, the Trust has started expanding access so that more people can enjoy it at night.
Soon, Ms Newman said, the Institute for Public Architecture, which addresses urban inequality through design, and Shandaken, which offers free public programs and artist services, will host about a dozen overnight residents.
The island’s food vendors and athletic fields are working to extend their opening hours, and the new QCNY Spa will remain open until 11pm on weekends.
There will also be special events throughout the summer, such as the Pride Island music festival and film screenings at the Parade Ground in conjunction with Lincoln Center.
Aside from the increase in activity, Mr. Begley, the concierge, said he enjoys the typically quiet nights he spends on Governors Island.
Although he lives on the Lower East Side, he also has an apartment in one of the island’s forts.
“It’s there to keep me comfortable and healthy,” he said, stopping by the apartment to grab a thermos of tea. “Otherwise it could be hard and lonely and weird if you don’t really have a good place to hang out on the island if you’re here pretty much every night.”
He appreciates the nature and idiosyncrasies of the island and likes to collect interesting things that he finds on his route.
“I dream of having a strange little Etsy shop with round rocks and driftwood,” he said as we drove around the edge of the island.
And he said his favorite part of his shift is around dawn, when he circles the island with Leader, who has every dog’s dream job: chasing geese away.