Governors Island, a favorite Brooklyn summer getaway spot

August 17, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Welcome to Governors Island, so close to Brooklyn that it's practically a borough neighborhood. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan

Share this:

It’s so close at hand, it’s practically a Brooklyn neighborhood.

Governors Island is an alluring spot to while away the hours on a summer Sunday afternoon — and it’s just a six-minute ferry ride from Brooklyn Heights.

The round-trip ticket from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park costs $2, by the way.

Hordes of Brooklynites who have been “long in city pent,” as Keats would say, made the historic 172-acre island in New York Harbor their getaway destination on Sunday.

Despite sweltering temperatures and surprise rain showers, the multitudes had a fine time.

Some came dressed as flappers, in dresses with fringe, ropes of pearls and feathered hats, to dance at a Jazz Fest.

Some sought out the Commanding Officer’s House — a brick manse with columns that’s a visual standout among the lemon-yellow 19th Century wooden homes in the Nolan Park section of the island. There, Claire Beckman, co-founder of Brooklyn theater troupe Brave New World Rep, directed a costumed reading of “The Plantation,” her moving adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “Cherry Orchard.”

Families rented surreys for rides along the roads of the former military base. They got grand views of the Statue of Liberty and 1 World Trade Center and bought oceans of lemonade from food trucks.

Kids played on a vast lawn dotted with huge art installations, one of them made of open umbrellas.

The federal government sold 150 acres of the island to New York in 2003, with state and city sharing the cost. The city created the Trust for Governors Island, which is in charge of operating and redeveloping the historic site.

It’s the kind of place that would be great for stargazing the whole night through. But alas, the last ferry leaves Governors Island at 7 p.m.