Governors Island
Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Park Service administers a small portion of the north end of the island as the Governors Island National Monument, including two former military fortifications named Fort Jay and Castle Williams. The Trust for Governors Island operates the remaining, including 52 historic buildings, as a public park. About of the land area is fill, added in the early 1900s to the south of the original island.
The native Lenape originally referred to Governors Island as Paggank because of the area's rich collection of chestnut, hickory, and oak trees; it is believed that this space was originally used for seasonal foraging and hunting. The name was translated into the Dutch Noten Eylandt, then Anglicized into Nutten Island, before being renamed Governor's Island by the late 18th century. The island was first used as a military installation in 1755 during the French and Indian War. In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, Continental Army troops raised defensive works on the island. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army post, serving mainly as a training ground for troops, though it also served as a strategic defense point during wartime. The island then served as a major United States Coast Guard installation until 1996. Following its decommissioning as a military base, there were several plans for redeveloping Governors Island. It was sold to the public for a nominal sum in 2003, and opened for public use in 2005.
Governors Island has become a popular destination for the public, attracting more than 800,000 visitors per year as of 2018. In addition to the public park, Governors Island includes free arts and cultural events, as well as recreational activities. The New York Harbor School, a public high school with a maritime-focused curriculum, has been on the island since 2010. The island can only be accessed by ferries from Brooklyn and Manhattan, and there are no full-time residents as of 2022. It was accessible to the public only during the summer until 2021, when the island started operating year-round.
Etymology
The Native Lenape refer to the island as Paggank, ''Pagganck, or Pagganack. All of these names literally translate to "Nut Island", likely in reference to the many chestnut, hickory, and oak trees on the island. The Dutch explorer Adriaen Block called it Noten Eylandt, a translation, and this was Anglicized into Nutten Island'', a name that continued to be used until the late 18th century. The name "Governor's Island", with an apostrophe, stems from the British colonial era, when the colonial assembly reserved the island for the exclusive use of New York's royal governors. The current name without an apostrophe was made official in 1784.History
Colonial period
Governors Island was initially much smaller than it is today. It had many inlets along its shoreline, and groves of hardwood trees, from which the island's native name is derived. There is insufficient evidence as to whether Governors Island contained any permanent Lenape settlements, or was used mainly for hunting and gathering. In 1524, the explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano was perhaps the first European to observe what was then called Paggank. One hundred years later, in May 1624, Noten Eylandt was the landing place of the first settlers in New Netherland. They departed from Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic with the ship Nieu Nederlandt under the command of Cornelius Jacobsen May and disembarked on the island with thirty families in order to take possession of the New Netherland territory. For this reason, the New York State Senate and Assembly recognize Governors Island as the birthplace of the state of New York, and also certify the island as the place on which the planting of the "legal-political guaranty of tolerance onto the North American continent" took place.In 1633, the fifth director of New Netherland, Wouter van Twiller, arrived with a 104-man regiment on Noten Eylandt, and later commandeered the island for his personal use. He secured his farm by drawing up a deed on June 16, 1637, which was signed by two Lenape leaders, Cacapeteyno and Pewihas, on behalf of their community at Keshaechquereren, situated in present-day New Jersey. Van Twiller cultivated a farm on the island, even building a windmill on the land, until he returned to the Netherlands in 1642. The windmill was demolished possibly by 1648, when colonial governor Peter Stuyvesant burned it down after seeing it in inoperable condition. Following this, Noten Eylandt is said to have been used as a recreation ground by the Dutch between 1652 and 1664. There is little other documentation on the use of the island during the Dutch colonial period, other than the fact that it has remained in public ownership since van Twiller left New Netherland.
New Netherland was conditionally ceded to the English in 1664, and the English renamed the settlement New York in June 1665. By 1674, the British had total control of the island. At this point, the eastern shore of the island was separated from Brooklyn by a shallow channel that could be easily traversed at low tide. This became known as Buttermilk Channel, since farm women would use the channel to travel to Manhattan island in boats and sell buttermilk. By 1680, Nutten Island contained a single house and pasture to be used by colonial governors for raising sheep, cattle, and horses.
The British started calling Nutten Island "Governor's Island" in 1698 and reserved the island for the exclusive use of colonial governors. Four years later, when Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury took office as New York colonial governor, he built a mansion on Governor's Island, though evidence of this mansion no longer exists. Later, governor William Cosby used the island as a preserve to breed and hunt pheasants. Other governors leased out the island for profit, and for a short period around 1710, Governor's Island was designated as a quarantine station for Palatine refugees arriving from England on their way to Germantown on the Hudson. Otherwise, Governor's Island mostly remained untouched until the American Revolutionary War started in 1775.
American Revolution
The first plans for fortifications on Governor's Island were made in 1741, in anticipation of a war with France, but the fortifications were never built. The island was first used by a military encampment in 1755 during the French and Indian War, when Sir William Pepperell led the 51st Regiment of Foot onto Governor's Island. Other regiments soon followed, and by the mid-1760s, there was documentation of a fort on the island as well as several surrounding earthworks. Further plans to improve the fortifications on Governor's Island were devised in 1766 by British military engineer John Montresor. These plans were never realized, even though the British had asked for funding for these fortifications in 1774.After the American Revolution started, Continental Army General George Washington assigned General Charles Lee to create a defensive plan for New York Harbor. Lee's plan called for several defensive forts in Brooklyn, in Manhattan's Battery, and on Governor's Island. On the night of April 9, 1776, Continental Army General Israel Putnam came to the island to add earthworks and 40 cannons, in anticipation of the return of the British, who had fled New York City the year before. The island's defenses continued to be improved over the following months, and on July 12, 1776, the defenses engaged HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose as they made a run up the Hudson River to the Tappan Zee. Even though the British were able to travel as far north as the Tappan Zee, the colonists' cannon inflicted enough damage to make the British commanders cautious of entering the East River, and the fortifications contributed to the success of Washington's retreat from Brooklyn to Manhattan after the Battle of Long Island, when the British Army attempted to take Brooklyn Heights during the largest battle of the war, around August 27, 1776.
In what appeared to be a strategic miscalculation, the rebels' munitions caused little to no damage to the British ships that were waiting some downstream. Two days after the British withdrawal to Manhattan, the Continental Army forces withdrew from Brooklyn and Governor's Island, and the British took back Governor's Island. From September 2 to 14, 1776, the new British garrison engaged volleys with Washington's guns on the Battery in front of Fort George in Manhattan. On September 6, the Americans' unsuccessful attempt to detonate the submersible Turtle at the island was the first documented submarine attack in history. The fort, along with the rest of New York City, was held by the British for the rest of the war until Evacuation Day in 1783. During this time, the British continued to improve Governor's Island's defenses.
Late 18th through 19th centuries
Late 18th century to War of 1812
At the end of the Revolution, Governor's Island was transferred from the Crown to the state of New York. The island saw no military usage, instead being used as a hotel and racetrack. The quality of the fortifications, which were mostly made of earth, began to decline. The name of Nutten Island was changed to "Governors Island" by act of the United States legislature on March 29, 1784. Governors Island was conveyed to the New York State Board of Regents in 1790 "for the encouragement of education... unless needed for military purposes." Little else is known about the island's use during this time.By the mid-1790s, increased military tensions renewed an interest in fortifying New York Harbor, and a U.S. congressional committee had drawn a map of possible locations for the First System of fortifications to protect major American urban centers. Governors Island was one of the first locations where defenses were built. As such, the agreement with the Board of Regents was voided in 1794, and some $250,000 in federal funding was allocated to the construction of defenses on Governors Island in 1794 and 1795. Fort Jay was built starting in 1794 on the site of the earlier Revolutionary War earthworks. Work proceeded despite concerns that Fort Jay's low elevation made it vulnerable to being captured. Fort Jay, a square four-bastioned fort, was made of earthworks and timber, two impermanent materials that deteriorated soon after the threat of war went away, and by 1805 it had significantly degraded. Ownership of the island was transferred to the federal government on February 15, 1800.
Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Williams, placed in charge of New York Harbor defenses in the early 1800s, proposed several new fortifications around the harbor as part of the Second System of fortifications. Unlike the First System defenses, the new fortifications were to be made of masonry to preclude deterioration, and they included increased firepower and improved weaponry. Fort Jay was rebuilt from 1806 to 1809 in its current five-pointed star shape, and was renamed Fort Columbus shortly afterward. A second major fortification, Castle Williams, was a circular battery built between 1807 and 1811 on a rocky shoal extending from the northwest corner of the island, to the north of Fort Columbus. A third fortification, the South Battery or Half-Moon Battery, was built to the south of Fort Columbus on the island's eastern shore in 1812. The War of 1812 commenced shortly after the completion of these defenses, though the fortifications never saw combat.