Castle Island is in the city of Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, Albany County

Albany County, New York

Albany County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The name is from the title of the Duke of York and Albany, who became James II of England . As of the 2010 census, the population was 304,204...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and has over the past 400 years been referred to as Martin Gerritse's Island, Patroon's Island, Van Rensselaer Island, and since the late 19th century has been referred to as Westerlo Island. Van Rensselaer Island

Van Rensselaer Island

Van Rensselaer Island was an island in the Hudson River opposite the city of Albany, New York. Today it is within the city of Rensselaer in Rensselaer County, and has been connected to the mainland on the east side and parts of the island's west side has been dredged away...

 is also the name of a former island opposite Albany, in the city of Rensselaer

Rensselaer, New York

Rensselaer is a city in Rensselaer County, New York, United States, and is located on the Hudson River directly opposite Albany. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,392; in 1920, it was 10,832. The name is from Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original landowner of the region in New...

.

History

What is now referred to as Westerlo Island was once 5 separate islands; Castle Island/Westerlo Island, Cabbage Island, Bogart Island, Marsh Island, and Beacon Island. In 1540 French traders from New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

 built a chateau

Château

A château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...

 on Castle Island, but due to flooding it was abandoned the next year. The Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 rebuilt the French chateau, which they called a castle giving rise to the name of the island, as Fort Nassau

Fort Nassau (North)

Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River in present-day Albany, New York, United States. The factorij was a small fortification which served as a trading post and warehouse...

 in 1614 under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, but in 1617 it was also destroyed by flooding. The island was quickly divided into farms on a lease basis from the Rensselaerswyck patroonship. The first farm on Castle Island was called "Rensselaersburgh" and was established in 1630. The Dongan Charter

Dongan Charter

The Dongan Charter is the 1686 document incorporating Albany, New York as a city. Albany's charter was issued by Governor Thomas Dongan of the Province of New York, a few months after Governor Dongan issued a similarly worded, but less detailed charter for the city of New York. The city of Albany...

 of 1686, which incorporated Albany as a city, placed the southern boundary as the northern "tip of Marte Gerrite's island", which is what Westerlo Island was referred to at the time.

Castle Island was from 1909 to 1928 the site of the Quentin Roosevelt

Quentin Roosevelt

Quentin Roosevelt was the youngest and favorite son of President Theodore Roosevelt. Family and friends agreed that Quentin had many of his father's positive qualities and few of the negative ones. Inspired by his father and siblings, he joined the United States Army Air Service where he became a...

 Field, the precursor to the Albany International Airport

Albany International Airport

Albany International Airport is a public use airport located six nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Albany, in Albany County, New York, United States. It is owned by the Albany County Airport Authority....

. Early aviators such as Glenn Curtiss

Glenn Curtiss

Glenn Hammond Curtiss was an American aviation pioneer and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He began his career as a bicycle then motorcycle builder and racer, later also manufacturing engines for airships as early as 1906...

 and Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh

Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...

 landed there. In 1926 Westerlo Island was annexed by the city of Albany from the town of Bethlehem

Bethlehem, New York

Bethlehem is a town in Albany County, New York, USA. The population was 33,656 at the 2010 census. The town is south of Albany. Bethlehem includes the following hamlets: Delmar, Elsmere, Slingerlands, Glenmont, Selkirk, South and North Bethlehem. U.S. Route 9W passes through the town...

, the other islands were not. With the filling in of the shallow creek and the coastal areas of the Hudson River the three smallest islands; Bogart, Marsh, and Beacon; merged with Cabbage Island by 1929. Island Creek still separated Westerlo Island from the mainland and Cabbage. The Normans Kill

Normans Kill

The Normans Kill is a creek in New York's Capital District located in Schenectady and Albany counties, which flows southeasterly from its source in the town of Duanesburg near Delanson to its mouth at the Hudson River in the town of Bethlehem. The stream creates the Watervliet Reservoir in the...

 (Normanskill Creek) separated Cabbage from the mainland. In the 1930s Island Creek was filled in, connecting Westerlo to the mainland and ending its time as an island, though it is still labeled as Westerlo Island on NYSDOT and USGS Albany quadrangle maps. In 1932 the island was opened as the Port of Albany-Rensselaer

Port of Albany-Rensselaer

The Port of Albany–Rensselaer, widely known as the Port of Albany, is a port of entry in the United States with facilities on both sides of the Hudson River in Albany and Rensselaer, New York. Private and public port facilities have existed in both cities since the 17th century, with an increas in...

, along with 35 acres (141,640.1 m²) in the city of Rensselaer

Rensselaer, New York

Rensselaer is a city in Rensselaer County, New York, United States, and is located on the Hudson River directly opposite Albany. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 9,392; in 1920, it was 10,832. The name is from Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the original landowner of the region in New...

. The Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

's Kenwood

Kenwood, Albany, New York

Kenwood is a neighborhood in the city of Albany, New York. Prior to annexation by the city in 1916 a hamlet in the neighboring town of Bethlehem, also in Albany County. The hamlet once spanned both sides of the Normans Kill along the Albany and Bethlehem Turnpike...

Yard and railroad tracks sit on the site of the original creek. A park just north of the Port of Albany is at the site of the former northern terminus of Island Creek with the Hudson River and retains the name Island Creek Park. By the 1950s Cabbage Island too had merged with Westerlo Island, but with the Normans Kill still flowing along its southern and western banks. The land along the Hudson River and north of the Normans Kill within the town of Bethlehem is the site of Cabbage Island.

External links

• The New Netherland Project : Fort Nassau (sponsored by the New York State Library)
• New York State Military Museum : Fort Nassau
• http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/na/castle.html