Rat Island, New York
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It is approximately 2.5 acres (1 ha) in size and located in City Island Harbor
City Island Harbor
City Island Harbor is the protected body of water between City Island and Hart Island in New York, open to Long Island Sound at its northern and southern extremities. It is not a true harbor, but a Sound. Other minor islands in and around City Island Harbor include the Chimney Sweeps, The Blauzes,...
, which is a part of Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound
Long Island Sound is an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean, located in the United States between Connecticut to the north and Long Island, New York to the south. The mouth of the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook, Connecticut, empties into the sound. On its western end the sound is bounded by the Bronx...
. It is about halfway between City Island and Hart Island
Hart Island, New York
Hart Island, sometimes referred to as Hart's Island, is a small island in New York City at the western end of Long Island Sound. It is approximately a mile long and one quarter of a mile wide and is located to the northeast of City Island in the Pelham Islands group...
and south of High Island
High Island, New York
High Island is a small private island, part of The Pelham Islands group in the New York City borough of the Bronx. It lies east of the north end of City Island between City Island Harbor and Pelham Bay in Long Island Sound. It is an island at most times, but is connected to City Island by a sandbar...
. It is one of the Pelham Islands
The Pelham Islands
The Pelham Islands is a historical name for a group of islands in western Long Island Sound that once belonged to Thomas Pell. The main islands in the group are City Island, Hart Island, Hunters Island, Twin Island, Goose Island, Davids' Island, High Island, Rat Island, the Chimney Sweeps, the...
.
Description
The small irregular island is about 2.5 acres (1 ha) in area. It has a dual-humped appearance and is mostly a lump of Manhattan schistManhattan schist
The Manhattan schist is a formation of mica schist rock that underlies much of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is well suited for the foundations of tall buildings, and the two large concentrations of skyscrapers on the island occur in locations where the formation is close to the...
bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
. There is a small channel that cuts into the bedrock on the southern side of the tiny island that was used for launching small boats. This channel is filled with mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
shells. There is a purple-bluish "beach" made of mussel shells mixed with bird bones on the west side of the island with some reed grass.
The entire island is littered with broken glass from beer bottles. The highest point on the island is usually covered in gull bird guano
Guano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
and is underwater during high tide storms. The largest inhabitant of the island is usually a Great Blue Heron
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
that sleeps on the island during daytime.
It is small and good looking.
It has recently been sold for $180,000.00 to a local New Yorker.
History
Rat Island was included in the purchase by Thomas PellThomas Pell
Dates may not be entirely accurate in this article due to disagreements between sources.Thomas Pell was a physician who was famous for buying the area known as Pelham, Westchester, New York, as well as land that now includes the eastern Bronx and southern Westchester County. He founded the town...
in 1654. During the typhoid fever scares of the 1800s, Rat Island was used by Pelham, New York
Pelham, New York
Pelham, New York is the name of two locations in Westchester County, New York:*Pelham , New York, the Town of Pelham*Pelham Manor , New York, the Village of Pelham Manor*Pelham , New York, the Village of Pelham...
as a typhoid quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
hospital for about 40 infected people called the "Pelham Pesthouse". The remains of cobblestone walls and foundations are still there. It was abandoned due to storm floods. Local legends say there was also a lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
for a while.
New York City purchased the island in 1888. It became a mini colony for writers and artists in the early 20th Century. It was bought by Dr. H. A. Parmentier in 1908. He subsequently leased the island to the Mount Vernon Club in 1931.
It was owned by a Brooklyn lawyer until 1972 when it was sold to Edmund "Red" Brennen. He said he bought it to do salvage work and store equipment. For many years crane buckets and lattice booms and other equipment were visible. In March 2009 Brennan put Rat Island up for sale for $300,000. On September 26, 2011, The New York Times published an article about the island, stating the property would go up for auction on October 2, 2011. It was sold at that auction for $160,000 to 71-year old retired Port Authority worker Alex Schibli, a resident of nearby City Island
City Island, Bronx
City Island is a small island approximately 1.5 mi long by .5 mi wide. At one time attached to the town of Pelham, Westchester County, it is now part of the New York City borough of the Bronx. As of the 2000 census the island had a population of 4,520. Its land area is 1.023 km²...
. Schibli said he has no immediate plans for physical changes to the island, but is considering renaming it Malina Island after his granddaughter.
In summer months, it may have as many as 30 people on it, mostly fishermen. Some can be seen pitching tents. Others swim off the east side. In the past, during summer the Parks Department used to put waste drums so they may contain their garbage. This was not done Summer 2011. Sometimes, the local first responders use it to practice rescue missions with boats and helicopters.Many locals still falsely think it is owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation
The City of New York Department of Parks & Recreation is the department of government of the City of New York responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecological diversity of the city's natural areas, and furnishing recreational opportunities for city's...
, when in fact, they are trespassing on private property if they visit the island.
Name
It is not known how the island received its name. It has been proposed by Red Brennan and others including former prison workers that prisoners escaping from Hart Island nearby, nicknamed "rats", used the small island to rest before swimming on to City Island and freedom. Another theory is that when the island housed typhoid victims in the 19th century it presumably attracted vermin.Further reading
- Rat Island p. 551, New York City Guide, Federal Writers' Project, 1939.