Governors Island is now open for the season, but their new rolling hills will remain closed to the public until July 19th. We got a sneak peek of the area last week, however (thanks to an Atlas Obscura tour), which we hadn't visited since it was just a pile of rubble.
The Hills—a section in the works for years now—features slopes up to 70-feet high, all with different names: Slide Hill, Outlook Hill, Grassy Hill, and Discover Hill. While the main attraction is the sweeping views of the city—including the Statue of Liberty, the Harbor, and the Lower Manhattan skyline—there's also a lush landscape to picnic upon, a permanent installation by British artist Rachel Whiteread, and a rocky wall of slides.
While there are slides of various lengths and widths, Slide Hill most notably boasts the longest slide in New York City—at least, that's what we're told—measuring 57-feet long and 3 stories tall.
In 2013, Building 877 was imploded, and this new section was built on top of it—50,000 cubic yards of the fill used for The Hills is made up of recycled debris from the demolition.
