One day during the summer I stopped by the Delaware River to see what was going on. As I stood there I swore I saw a whisp of smoke coming from Fish Island which is a few football field lengths from the State Capital Building in Trenton. I didn't think much of it at the time but the other day I was passing by and looked over and saw a camp set up there. Now the only way to get there would be by wading, which you could have done a lot this year especially with the drought, or by some kind of watercraft, like a jet boat, kayak, or paddle board.
There are three islands that sit within the City of Trenton. To the north are Rotary and Blaugard Islands and to the south, where the camp is set up, is an island that sits as part of Stacy Park. I have wrote about these in the past. What is interesting is for was many people I have talked to about this tiny island is
no one could recall it having a name. It was only after I did all kinds of digging in old books and articles did I find it referred to as Fish Island, that was in a book dated back to the 1800's. So, I, and everyone I know who knows, calls it Fish Island.
So I went down yesterday just to see. I bought along my two big cameras that I used to use when I worked as a photographer. It's amazing they have any life left. I pulled off of Route 29, aka John Fitch Way, and took a look over and didn't see any life. Maybe this was just a summer haunt for some one? Or for a group of kids? Then in the corner of my eye I saw life in the middle of the river. Is that a guy in a kayak? Yes it was. So I started clicking.
This isn't a place to spend the cooler months on. As of late we've had air temps down into the 20's and when the north wind blows down river there is no protection. He has set
up on what I would call island #2, the smaller of the two islands separated from the other by larger by a channel. The smaller parcel is 310 feet long and 70 feet wide.
After he disappeared from view, as he landed his kayak, I waited to see if he would reappear. After some time he did and started gathering wood to build a fire. It wasn't bone chilling cold yesterday at 40 degrees, but it felt like it was 31 degrees, and that north wind.
I took some more pictures and then gave him his privacy. Back home I was asked, "Why don't you just leave him alone?". Good question. People have a right to privacy. But there's a story behind the people who live and frequent the corners in and around Route 29 in Trenton.
The old wharf at Trenton used to be a place. Like many other go-to places in the old big cities this place has seen its day. Talk to anyone who shad fishes or caught and live-lined herring back in the day then this was the place. Then it wasn't. It became a place for drinkers and those down on their luck who set up home.
Down on their luck, ravaged by addiction, not right in the head, there were all types. I've encountered them several times while on foot or in my truck as they are a fixture at the intersections outside of the state offices and the Trenton Thunder stadium. There are there when it's 110 degrees out and when it's 15 degrees out, and in the rain, and snow, and in-between.
After I was done at the island I went down to S. Warren Street and Route 29 and found more of the same. Sign holding drifters walking in and out of traffic asking for a handout. Most of these people are white and young. I don't know how they came to Route 29 in Trenton.
It's a dangerous game they play with many wearing clothes that are donated or they can find and they do not have reflective stripes on them to warn motorists. Each year pedestrians, at least one, are struck, injured, or are killed along Route 29, and afterwards a makeshift memorial can be seen leaning up against a pole near the accident scene.
The reason the resident of Fish Island might be there is due to the changing landscape down and around where the homeless camps were set up. There has been a ton of construction down on the water. They have completed the highway work and are now working on a new wharf.
So basically anyone down there was displaced. They have went from living in the the brush along the river and under the overpasses into the vacant buildings within a few city blocks of the highway. Maybe Fish Island offers solitude, and more importantly, safety.
Each time I go past now I will be looking over to see any signs of life. I will feel relieved if I see that light column of smoke coming from the brush. That'll mean he's alive. I can't imagine taking the below route to get to food, help, or warmth in the next coming months.
