 Northern tip of Hunter Island in Pelham Bay Park | |
 Location in New York City | |
| Etymology | John Hunter |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Location | New York City (Pelham Bay Park,the Bronx), United States |
| Coordinates | 40°52′34″N73°47′24″W / 40.87611°N 73.79000°W /40.87611; -73.79000 |
| Archipelago | Pelham Islands |
| Adjacent to | Pelham Bay/Long Island Sound |
| Area | 166 acres (67 ha) |
| Highest elevation | 90 ft (27 m)[1] |
| Additional information | |
| Official website | NYC Parks |
| [2] | |
Hunter Island (alsoHunters Island orHunter's Island) is a 166-acre (67 ha) peninsula and former island inthe Bronx,New York City, United States.[2] It is situated on the western end ofLong Island Sound, along the sound's northwestern shore, and is part ofPelham Bay Park in the northeastern part of the Bronx. Hunter Island initially covered 215 acres (87 ha) and was one of thePelham Islands, the historical name for a group of islands in western Long Island Sound that once belonged toThomas Pell. The island is connected to another former island,Twin Island, on the northeast.
The area around Hunter Island was originally settled by theSiwanoy Native Americans. One of Pell's descendants, Joshua Pell, moved onto the island in 1743. It was subsequently owned by the Hunter and Henderson families, and the island was briefly namedHenderson's Island after the latter. Henderson's Island was purchased by politicianJohn Hunter in 1804. Hunter built a mansion on the island and his family resided on the island until 1865, when it was sold to former mayorAmbrose Kingsland. Several other people owned Hunter Island before being incorporated into Pelham Bay Park in 1888. Subsequently, the island became a vacation destination. In the 1930s, New York City parks commissionerRobert Moses extended nearbyOrchard Beach, to the south of the island, by connecting Hunter Island to the mainland.
Hunter Island formerly contained Hunter Mansion, which Hunter had built for his family in 1811. It was located on the island's highest point and was destroyed in 1937 when Orchard Beach was expanded onto the island. Acauseway connecting Hunter Island to the mainland still exists. Today the former island is part of awildlife refuge, the Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary, which was established in 1967 on the northern shores of Hunter and Twin Islands. The sanctuary includes rock outcroppings and an intertidalmarine ecosystem that is not found anywhere else in New York state. Hunter Island also contains the Kazimiroff Nature Trail and Orchard Beach Environmental Center, which was established in 1986 as a tribute to Bronx preservationistTheodore Kazimiroff.
Hunter Island is located within the northeastern part of Pelham Bay Park, which is itself located in the northeast Bronx, near New York City's northern border.[1][3] The island's flora largely consists of tracts ofold-growth forest that existed prior to the settlement of the New York City area, as well as plants introduced by John Hunter in the 19th century. A 2005 survey by theNew York City Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks) found 49 native species as well as four invasive species. Some of the plants found on Hunter Island, includinglousewort,alum root, andbroad beech fern are seldom found in other New York City parks.[4] The island contains theHunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary, established in 1967,[1][5] and theKazimiroff Nature Trail and Orchard Beach Environmental Center, which opened in 1986.[6][7]
To the north and west of the former island isLeRoy's Bay, a lagoon nearby that separated Hunter Island from the mainland.[8] The bay was traversed by a stonecauseway to Hunter Island.[9][10][11] Most of the lagoon was filled in during the mid-1930s reconstruction ofOrchard Beach, and the bay became known as the "Orchard Beach Lagoon", or the Lagoon for short.[12][13]
To the north of Hunter Island isGlen Island Park, outside the city limits inWestchester County. It is separated from Hunter Island via LeRoy's Bay.[3] Glen Island Park is operated by Westchester County, and parking and beach access are open only to Westchester residents.[14]
The eastern part of Hunter Island is adjacent to Hog Island and Cat Briar Island, two tiny islands in Pelham Bay. Hunter Island is also physically attached to Twin Island on the southeast corner.[3] Twin Island was itself formerly two islands called East and West Twin Islands;[15][16][17] the westernmost island was connected to Hunter Island via a man-made stone bridge,[18][19] which now lies in ruins in one of the city's last remainingsalt marshes.[20] Twin Island is in turn attached to another former island called Two Trees Island.[3][16] Twin and Two Trees Islands are now connected to Hunter Island and the mainland by landfill.[21] All six landmasses form part of the Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary.[22]
To the south is Orchard Beach andPelham Bay. Orchard Beach surrounds the bay on its east in a roughly crescent shape, and the northern part of the beach connects Hunter and Twin Islands.[3] The bay formerly adjoined the southern part of Hunter Island, but approximately one third of the original bay was filled in to create Orchard Beach from 1934 to 1938.[23] Orchard Beach's parking lot is located on the southeast side of Hunter Island.[3]
TheSiwanoy Native Americans who originally occupied the area referred to the general vicinity around Hunter Island as "Laap-Ha-Wach King", or "place of stringing beads".[1][10][24][15] One notable boulder, the "Gray Mare" at the northwestern shore of the island, is aglacial erratic where the Siwanoy would conduct ceremonies.[25][10][26] Another boulder was the "Mishow", another important ceremonial site for the Siwanoy, as well as the burial sites of twosachems.[10][26] Fishing was once conducted on Hunter Island's eastern shore (though not necessarily by the Siwanoy), and on some days, fishermen netted over a thousand pounds of fish.[26] Sources indicate Wampage II, Siwanoysachem and son ofWampage I, had astockaded "castle" on Hunter Island in the late 17th century.[27]
The earliest building to be built on the island was the Old Stone House, a small outbuilding that was believed to have been built by an unknownHuguenot prior to 1700.[28] What was later known as Hunter Island was originally part of the Pell estate, and Joshua Pell, a descendant of Thomas Pell, took ownership of the island in 1743.[26] According to a newspaper article from 1933, the Old Stone House was the Pells' residence.[29] The island was subsequently owned by the Hunter and Henderson families.[10][26] The island was briefly calledHenderson's Island after Alexander Henderson, the third owner of the island.[10]
Upon Henderson's death in 1804, the island was offered for lease.[30]John Hunter, a successful businessman and politician, purchased the property shortly afterward.[31] Hunter, his wife Elizabeth, and his son Elias moved to the island in 1813.[9] The Hunters builttheir own mansion on the island.[15][32] The Old Stone House, which by then adjoined the mansion, was used as a barn.[28]
John Hunter lived on the estate until his death in 1852.[1][9] Ownership of the mansion then passed to Elias Hunter. Upon Elias's death in 1865, his son John III was supposed to inherit the land only if he lived on it, as per the senior John Hunter's will. John III, who lived inThroggs Neck instead, sold it to MayorAmbrose Kingsland in 1866.[32][1] The land then passed in succession to Alvin Higgins, Gardiner Jorden, and Oliver Iselin. The city then bought the land in 1889 for $324,000 (equivalent to $11,300,000 in 2024).[1][9] In 1892, Stephen Peabody was given the right to occupy the Hunter Mansion, paying $1,200 a year in rent, in conjunction with his new role as groundskeeper of Hunter Island.[33]: 9 (PDF p.67) Soon afterward, the mansion became a shelter for children operated by the Society of Little Mothers.[1][9][10] The barn adjoining the mansion burned down in a fire in approximately 1890,[34] and was abandoned by the early 20th century.[28]
By the early 1900s, Hunter Island had become a popular summer vacation destination, and it hosted a campsite.[35] The Hunter House had been renovated into a hotel.[36] In 1903, due to overcrowding on Hunter Island, NYC Parks opened another campsite at Rodman's Neck on the south tip of the island, with 100 bathhouses.[35][37][38][39] By 1917, Hunter Island saw half a million seasonal visitors.[35] The park's condition started to decline in the 1920s as the surrounding areas were developed.[37][38] Hunter Island became popular with European immigrants who built shelters and established summer colonies. This led to the island being closed and camping banned, but was unsuccessful at preventing the beachgoers from returning.[40]
Upon taking office in 1934, New York City parks commissionerRobert Moses surveyed every park in the city.[41][23][42] Moses devised plans for a new Orchard Beach recreation area after he saw the popularity of the Hunter Island campsite.[35] At the time, the beach was a narrowsand bar connecting Hunter Island and Rodman's Neck.[43] Moses canceled 625 leases for the project, and after campers unsuccessfully sued the city,[44] the site was cleared of campers in June.[45] Moses decided to connect Hunter Island and the Twin Islands to Rodman's Neck by filling in most ofLeRoy's Bay, a lagoon located to the west of the island.[46] The deteriorated Hunter Mansion was demolished in 1937 with the construction of the beach.[1][9] The expanded Orchard Beach was opened on June 25, 1937.[47]
In the 1960s, there were plans to expand a landfill in Pelham Bay Park, which would have created the City's second-largest refuse disposal site next toFresh Kills inStaten Island.[5] A group of preservationists headed by Dr.Theodore Kazimiroff, a Bronx historian and head of theBronx Historical Society, lobbied the city to create a wildlife preserve in Hunter Island, one of the sites where the landfill was proposed to be expanded. The preservation effort suffered setbacks in August 1967 when theNew York City Board of Estimate voted against an initial effort to create the protected area in the proposed landfill expansion site.[48][49] On October 11, 1967, MayorJohn Lindsay signed a law authorizing in the creation of twowildlife refuges in Pelham Bay Park: theThomas Pell Wildlife Sanctuary on the western side of the park, and the Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary on the former Hunter Island.[1][5] This was followed by the Kazimiroff Nature Trail and the Pelham Bay Park Environmental Center in 1986. The trail was named after the historian Kazimiroff, who had since died.[6]
In 1811, the Hunter family built a mansion in theEnglish Georgian style. It was described as one of the finest mansions of the period, with three stories, a largeveranda, andterraced gardens leading to the island's shore.[15][32] The building had a rectangular shape. The main entrance faced west, toward the mainland, and contained a grand doorway flanked by columns. Aportico at the back faced the Long Island Sound.[26] The mansion held an art collection of over 400 works from artists such asRembrandt,Peter Paul Rubens,Anthony van Dyck, andLeonardo da Vinci.[15][32] The home was situated at the highest point on the island, 90 feet (27 m) above sea level, and had views ofLong Island Sound to the east and the hills and woodlands of the Town ofPelham to the north.[1] At the time that the mansion existed, the remainder of the island was mostly lawns, except for a few outbuildings such as the former Old Stone House, as well as a tenant's house and a garden.[26] The mansion was demolished in 1937 after a long period of deterioration.[1]
The stone causeway connected the island to the mainland.[9][10] The entrance to the causeway from Eastern Boulevard (present-day Shore Road), on the mainland, was marked by two white granite gateposts. The Hunter's Island Inn, a mansion owned by Elias Hunter's daughterElizabeth de Lancey, was located across from the gateposts.[50][26][10] The causeway blocked the flow of water in LeRoy's Bay.[9] The bridge's remnants still exist as of 2017[update].[17]
Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary encompasses all of Twin Islands, Cat Briar Island, Two Trees Island, and the northeastern shoreline of Hunter Island.[22][51] It contains many glacial erratics, large boulders that were deposited during thelast glacial period. The rocky coast of Twin Islands contains the southernmost outcropping of Hartlandschist, the major bedrock component of New England coastlines, as well asgranite with bothmigmatitedikes andveins made ofquartz.[22][52] The sanctuary supports a unique intertidal marine ecosystem that is rare in New York State. It holds the largest continuousoakforest in Pelham Bay Park, includingwhite,red, andblack oak, as well asblack cherry,white poplar,white pines,Norway spruce, andblack locust trees. One can also findgrape hyacinth,periwinkle,daylily, and Tartarianhoneysuckle, which were part of the Hunter Mansion's garden.[53][1] Member species of the islands' salt marsh ecosystem includeegrets,cormorants,fiddler crabs,horseshoe crabs,marine worms,barnacles, andoysters.[20][54]
In 1983, the Theodore Kazimiroff Environmental Center was proposed for the park, alongside a nature trail that would wind through the park's terrain.[55] It would be named out of respect to the late Kazimiroff,[55] who had died in 1980.[7] The Kazimiroff Nature Trail, as well as the Pelham Bay Park Environmental Center at Orchard Beach, opened in June 1986.[6][7][40]
The Kazimiroff Nature Trail traverses 189 acres (76 ha) of Hunter Island. Much of the island's natural features are found along the trail.[56] The trail comprises two overlapping lasso-shaped paths, the "red" and "blue" trails. The blue trail is slightly longer than the red trail.[7][54][56]
Along the shared "lasso spur" is a canal for mosquito control as well as an intersection with the old Hunter Island causeway's cobblestone approach path.[56] Going counterclockwise from the intersection with the two "loops", the trail passes through a grove of 100Norway spruces planted in 1918; ablack locust forest from the 1970s; and athicket ofshrubs andvines.[57] At this point, the longer blue trail diverges to the northwest and then northeast, passing the former Hunter Mansion'sknoll; a forest ofwhite pines; somemugwort and invasiveAilanthus; the Hunter Mansion's main driveway; a less dense patch of trees and burnt tree stumps, part of a forest burned by the Siwanoy;white oaks andblack locusts; andlichen-covered boulders, a rare occurrence in New York City parks.[58] The shorter red trail goes directly north through awhite poplar forest; a grove scorched by an uncontrolled fire; and remnants of the former estates' stone walls.[59] Both trails merge and loop back to the east and south, passing through glacial-erratic boulders, New England bedrock, and the island's salt marsh.[60] The Gray Mare glacial erratic can also be seen along this stretch.[54]
| Major islands |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham Islands | |||||
| New York Bay |
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| Jamaica Bay | |||||
| North River (Hudson River) | |||||
Former islands shown initalics | |||||
