LOWERBAY
SWINBURNE
From a 1929 newspaper report: “Swinburne Island,
abandoned Federal plague station, known and dreaded by superstitious immigrants as the Island of the Dead, has been despoiled by vandals from Staten Island beaches nearby. Drunken bathers ofboth sexes have broken into the mortuary. Using the old crematory as the scene of their destruction, theyhavesmasheddozensofurns, scattering to the winds theashesofforeignerswhodied at America’s gateway.”
JAMAICA
BAY
RUFFLEBAR
On Seper 2, 9, and16in1888,theWindwardClubRaces,
an a yachtingcontest,wereheldonaten-milecoursefromBarIslandinJamaicaBay.“Fourveryhandsome
silvercreofferedbytheclubforthefirstandsecondboats
ineass,”wrotetheboatingcorrespondentfortheNewYork‘SThebayoffersunusualinducementsforsmallcraftandursailers[sic],andhasalargenumberofeach.
Theboaeareputationofbeingasfastastheycanmake’em.”
LONGISLANDSOUND
SOUTH BROTHER
Cl
aimed for the Dutch West India Company in 1614 by Captain Adriaen
Block (namer and claimer of Rhode Island’s Block Island), South Brother
hasbeenmanythings:thesummerhome,startingin1894,ofJacobRuppert, abrewerandtheowneroftheNewYorkYankeeswhenBabeRuthwason
theteam;thesiteofthe1901Bronxbaseballchampionship;aworkers’retreatasenvisagedbyJohnGerosa,aroofing-companypresident,
whoplannedcottagesonthesevenacres;andaheronsanctuary,
afterthecity,attheurgingoftheAudubonSociety,boughtitin2007.
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