Myself and my roommate are filming and narrating a video of ourselves exploring the abandoned Partridge Island and want to include as much accurate history as possible.
I have done some preliminary research online and have compiled a rough time line and jotted down some notes. I was wondering if anyone hear had anything to add pr had more insight on the island.
Timeline:
1785-Island first Established as quaratine station, 1812-Gun Batteries Built/military base, 1816-First used as quarantine station, 1830s- first hospital is built on the island, 1840s- Ireland suffers great potato famine, 30k people are processed through partridge, 1196 of which pass away, 1846-Typhus epidemic, 1890s-original celtic cross monument destroyed in WW1, 1927- New celtic cross erected, 1974- Island is declared a historic site
Compiled information:
1830s-1920s 6 mass graveyards were created on island (Protestant, Catholic and Jewish that I know of)
1800s-1947 served as Saint John's Military base
1982-1995 Boat tours hosted to island
1830-1941 used as quarantine station
1955, 1998-1999 buildings are demolished
I was wondering if anyone also had any insight on how much of this is true as we would obviously like the information to be as accurate as possible.
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.