32 Abandoned Cities That Are Slowly Being Reclaimed by Nature

20. North Brother Island, USA – New York’s Forbidden Wilderness

Just a short distance from the bustling streets of Manhattan, hidden in the waters of the East River, lies North Brother Island, one of New York City's most mysterious and off-limits locations. Once a place of isolation, disease, and tragedy, the island has been abandoned for decades, allowing nature to reclaim its eerie remnants.Originally developed in the 1880s as the site of the Riverside Hospital, North Brother Island became a quarantine facility for infectious diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, and typhoid. It is most infamous for housing "Typhoid Mary", one of the first known asymptomatic carriers of typhoid fever, who was forcibly confined there until her death in 1938. Later, the island was repurposed as a rehabilitation center for drug addicts before being completely abandoned in the 1960s. Left to the elements, the hospital buildings, dormitories, and ferry dock fell into ruin. Thick vines now smother the brick structures, trees grow through crumbling walls, and pathways are swallowed by dense undergrowth. Today, North Brother Island is completely off-limits to the public, designated as a protected bird sanctuary, home to one of New York’s largest heron populations. The island’s eerie, overgrown ruins are only visible from a boat, adding to its mystery. It is a place frozen in time, a forgotten piece of New York history where nature has woven itself into the fabric of the past.