New York's First Municipal Airport Is Now An Abandoned Time Capsule That's Straight Out Of A Horror Movie

Reading about the past is one thing, but walking amidst it is another — especially when it's composed of ruined reminders of life. For those who prefer to lounge poolside with a Mai Tai and oversized plastic-rimmed shades, such a place — like Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York – might look like a nightmare. But for those drawn to the decrepit and ghastly, Floyd Bennett Field is something of a decaying dream of rust, open girders, shattered windows, and floors split by grass. It looks like a prime place to be murdered by a slasher from an '80s horror flick and dumped along the shores of Jamaica Bay.

But Floyd Bennett Field didn't always look like this — nor does it only look like this today. In 1931, it became the United States' first municipal airport, a mere four years after famed aviator Charles Lindbergh completed the first transatlantic flight in 1927. Chosen for its eastern seaboard location on the presciently named Barren Island, the airport was named after the first pilot to fly over the North Pole. But when LaGuardia opened in 1939, Floyd Bennett Field fell out of favor.

Flord Bennett Field transformed into a Naval Air Reserve Training Station in 1941, was absorbed into Gateway National Recreation Area in 1972, and later housed the Marine Corps Reserve's 6th Communications Battalion. Nowadays, visitors kayaking or canoeing around Jamaica Bay, walking towards the red-brick facade of the Ryan Visitor Center, or taking aim from the Floyd Bennett Field archery range might spot battered, overgrown buildings on Barren Island. They also might head inside themselves. 

One of Floyd Bennett Field's two faces is crumbling and deteriorated — graffitied but not bulldozed — and in sight for everyone to see. Sometimes, whole towns fade slowly and shrivel into their weirdest components, like the kitsch-ridden Goldfield, Nevada, once billed the "World's Greatest Gold Camp." In the case of Colorado's Dunton Hot Springs, an abandoned mining town was converted into a modern, rustic resort with century-old cabins and luxurious stays. And in one very strange turn, a Victorian-era public toilet in Oxford, England, was transformed into an underground, luxury mini-hotel. Floyd Bennett Field's dual-faced fate — abandoned airport meets national park and Marine headquarters — makes it unique in a different way.

Floyd Bennett's abandoned buildings aren't labeled on Google Maps, but you can still find them with some intrepid detective work and view them without breaking the law. The sight is horrific in its own way, which is part of the appeal for photographers and urban explorers. Some urban explorers or generally curious people on Reddit question what each broken building used to be, often referencing a nearly 400-page National Park Service document, the Cultural Landscape Report for Floyd Bennett Field, to draw conclusions. Page 139 of that report features an overhead map of Barren Island's former Naval Air Reserve Training Station, which can be used to hunt down structures like the sewage treatment plant, storage buildings, or power plant.  

But anyone looking to head inside such abandoned structures should be aware that it's generally illegal to do so, no matter how tempting. In New York, trespassing is addressed by Penal Law § 140.10 and is classified as "criminal trespass in the third degree." It is a class B misdemeanor and carries a sentence of $500 and/or up to three months in jail. 

Floyd Bennett Field's other face is a shiny new one under the U.S. National Park Service. In addition to the archery range and Ryan Visitor Center, visitors can enjoy multiple kayak launches, the marina with room for 500 vessels, and designated areas to do some saltwater fishing, like the appropriately named Sandy Fishing Beach. The Marine Corps Reserve's 6th Communication Battalion also calls the island home. The headquarters sits behind a chain-link fence and, like the island's abandoned buildings, is subject to criminal trespassing laws and penalties. 

Floyd Bennett Field and Barren Island are also part of the entire Gateway National Recreation Area, an urban park composed of disconnected sections centered on New York Harbor. Next to Barren Island, the 12,600-acre marshland,  Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, acts as a bridge from JFK airport to the Rockaway Peninsula. South across the harbor in New Jersey, there's Sandy Hook Lighthouse, an 18th-century National Historic Landmark on a peninsula with beaches clustered together. 

Finally, Fort Wadsworth waits for the historically-minded west across the harbor along the coast of Staten Island. This military complex comprises imposing stone forts constructed in the early 1800s to defend against British naval incursions. But despite being older than the abandoned buildings of Floyd Bennett Field, the forts are far less haunting. Floyd Bennett Field is still decomposing, stuck in a liminal state between recognizable and alien. It's creepier precisely because it's near-normal, but not quite, like the uncanny valley of civilization to come. When seen in a certain way, and combined with the functional amenities of Gateway National Recreation Area, you've got quite the unsettling, even macabre experience.