New York City is huge but every inch of it can be visited by anyone.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s one exception.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a small inhabited island that\u2019s right there, you can see it, but no one is allowed to visit.<\/p>\n
READ MORE! Japan\u2019s ancient underwater \u2018pyramid\u2019 is the ultimate puzzle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The small abandoned island is connected to NYC by tunnels but it\u2019s forbidden to go there.<\/p>\n And, as well as the waters of the East River off New York City \u2013 mystery swirls around the uninhabited islet.<\/p>\n Known as Belmont Island or U Thant Island, it measures just 30.48 x 60.96 m (100-by-200 ft), and it is an artificial island. <\/p>\n The abandoned island is covered in a patch of overgrown weeds, but there\u2019s also a metal structure rising up from its surface.<\/p>\n However, despite islands like \u2018Billionaire\u2019s Island\u2019<\/a>, Necker Island<\/a> and MrBeast\u2019s abandoned island that was won by a subscriber<\/a> being highly valued \u2013 nobody is making bank on this plot.<\/p>\n <\/a>Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n Not formed naturally \u2013 like this futuristic design for a floating city in China<\/a> \u2013 the artificial and abandoned island was created due to tunnels built in the late 1800s.<\/p>\n William Steinway, the famed\u00a0piano\u00a0maker, began a project in 1890.<\/p>\n The aim was to create a tunnel for trolleys that would link up his company town of Steinway Village in Astoria, Queens, under the East River.<\/p>\n <\/a>Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n A shaft was created in a granite outcrop, known as the Man-o\u2019-Reef outcrop, to reach the tunnels.<\/p>\n Sadly, the man behind the project and the pianos, Steinway, never got to see his dream completed.<\/p>\n He died before it was finished and the project was taken over 10 years later by August Belmont Jr.<\/p>\n Belmont Jr., of Belmont Park and subway financier fame, completed the job and naming rights.<\/p>\n The project was finished between 1905 and 1907.<\/p>\n <\/a>Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n The islet formed from construction waste rubble floating up to the reef.<\/p>\n Tragedy struck in 1906, shortly before the project was completed.<\/p>\n A compressed air pipe burst, killing four workers inside the tunnel.<\/p>\n Two died from of suffocation and\u00a0decompression sickness, while the other two drowned.<\/p>\n The project foreman and his assistant descended over 6 m( 20 ft) into the tunnel in a bid to save workers.<\/p>\n <\/a>Wikimedia Commons<\/a>Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n They were able to rescue two workers and remove the bodies of the two men who died due to decompression sickness.<\/p>\n Sadly the bodies of the pair who drowned still lie at the bottom of the tunnel.<\/p>\n Fast forward seven decades and a Buddhist group went on to rent control of the island in 1977.<\/p>\n In 1977, when a Buddhist group went on to rent control of the islet, it was unofficially renamed U Thant Island by a group of U.N. employees.<\/p>\n The name was inspired by the former U.N. Secretary General from Burma.<\/p>\n