! Alert

Due to a planned New York Harbor closure and planned street closures in Lower Manhattan, Governors Island will close at 3PM on Friday, July 4, 2025. More info.

Due to a planned New York Harbor closure and planned street closures in Lower Manhattan, Governors Island will close at 3PM on Friday, July 4, 2025. More info.

Blog

How Much Do You Know About Gov­er­nors Island? (updat­ed)

Dec 16, 2011 3:12 pm
[cap­tion id=“attachment_4859” align=“aligncenter” width=“185” caption=“Celebrate the hol­i­days by tak­ing this quiz on Gov­er­nors Island!”][/​caption] Updat­ed: New and improved with answers high­light­ed in red! Ear­li­er this week, all of the staff on Gov­er­nors Island got into the spir­it of the sea­son with our annu­al hol­i­day par­ty. As a part of the fes­tiv­i­ties, we have a quiz on all things Gov­er­nors Island. This year, Able Engi­neer­ing, who han­dles main­te­nance here, won in a land­slide. How well do you know the Island? Take the quiz below and find out! (Answers will be post­ed next week). 1. Which fig­ure in Amer­i­can his­to­ry is NOT depict­ed on the WPA murals locat­ed in Per­sh­ing Hall? 
  1. Theodore Roo­sevelt
  2. Bene­dict Arnold
  3. Robert E. Lee
  4. Paul Revere
2. Dur­ing the Coast Guard era, there was a day care cen­ter on the Island. What was the month­ly cost for child care dur­ing this period? 
  1. $0 
  2. $6
  3. $15
  4. $110
3. What was the run­ner-up name for Mol­ly Brown in the nam­ing contest? 
  1. Sandy
  2. Salty
  3. Gin­ger
  4. Hel­lo Grit­ty Kitty
4. Approx­i­mate­ly how many cubic yards of land fill were brought to Gov­er­nors Island at the turn of the 20th cen­tu­ry to make up the south­ern part of the Island? 
  1. 475,000 
  2. 540,000
  3. 1,250,000
  4. 4,800,000
5. Approx­i­mate­ly how many cubic yards of land fill will be brought to Gov­er­nors Island to com­plete the park & pub­lic space plan? 
  1. 475,000
  2. 540,000
  3. 1,250,000
  4. 4,800,000
6. Which fea­ture was removed from the Gov­er­nors House in the 1930s? 
  1. The widow’s walk
  2. A dry moat
  3. The 3rd floor
  4. Two-sto­ry porches
7. Approx­i­mate­ly, how many bot­tles of cham­pagne were con­sumed at the 2011 Veuve Clic­quot Polo Match? 
  1. 600
  2. 1,200
  3. 3,000
  4. 6,000
8. What is the offi­cial name of the col­or of the Nolan Park Houses? 
  1. But­ter­cup yellow
  2. Sun­shine by osmo­sis yellow
  3. French yel­low
  4. Saf­fron yellow
 9. The can­nons in front of the Com­mand­ing Officer’s House were acquired from which war? 
  1. The War of 1812
  2. The Span­ish Amer­i­can War
  3. World War I
  4. World War II
10. What col­or will the MTA Tun­nel Vent Shaft be after the Park and Pub­lic Space project is complete? 
  1. Orange in hon­or of the Dutch
  2. White
  3. Nau­ti­cal Red
  4. Dif­fer­ent col­ors every night like the Empire State Building
11. Which body of water does NOT sur­round Gov­er­nors Island? 
  1. Hud­son River
  2. East Riv­er
  3. But­ter­milk Channel
  4. Upper New York Bay
12. How may runs does the Coursen make in the aver­age month? (A run is con­sid­ered from GI and back) 
  1. 68
  2. 140
  3. 260
  4. 320
13. In 1903, how many acres was Gov­er­nors Island? 
  1. 92
  2. 111
  3. 150
  4. 172
14. Which avi­a­tor has NOT land­ed on Gov­er­nors Island? 
  1. Wilbur Wright
  2. Glenn Cur­tis
  3. Cap­tain ​“Sul­ly” Sullenberger
  4. Major Hen­ry H. ​“Hap” Arnold
If you real­ly think you know the Island, try your hand at the bonus ques­tions below! BONUS QUES­TIONS: One point for each ques­tion answered correctly! 
  1. Who was respon­si­ble for build­ing the first church on the Island? Dr. John McVickar in 1847
  2. True or false: Gov­er­nors Island was once con­nect­ed to Man­hat­tan? True (tens of thou­sands of years ago)
  3. Wouter van Twiller, who orig­i­nal­ly pur­chased Gov­er­nors Island from the Lenape, inspired sto­ries based on his appear­ance and tem­per. Which famous Amer­i­can wrote these sto­ries and what were they called? Knicker­bock­er Tales by Wash­ing­ton Irving
  4. Which GI build­ing was NOT part of the NY arse­nal locat­ed on the island until WWI? Build­ing 108
  5. Who was Nolan Park named after? Major Gen­er­al Den­nis Nolan
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