Dwarfed by tiny City Island and lilliputian Hart Island (New York City’s Potter’s Field) off the Bronx, Rat Island is currently uninhabited.
But this 2.5 acre hump of bedrock has a long, strange history.
Purchased from Native Americans in 1654 by the Pell family, the island’s name supposedly stems from the inmates then jailed on Hart Island.
When inmates—who were nicknamed rats—escaped, they swam to Rat Island first before making a go at reaching City Island.
By the 1800s, it was the location of the “Pelham Pesthouse,” a yellow fever hospital that quarantined 40 people.
New York bought it in 1888, though it’s not clear why, since the city didn’t put it to any use. Until the 1930s a group of artists and writers lived there.
Eventually it went back into private ownership—and last year was actually up for sale. The price? Just $300,000.
Tags: Hart Island, islands in the East River, Islands of New York City, Islands off Pelham Bay Park, Pelham Pesthouse, Potter's Field NYC, Rat Island Long Island Sound, Rat Island New York City, Thomas Pell
November 29, 2010 at 3:37 pm |
[…] Swimming out to Rat Island and the Pelham Pesthouse. [ENY] […]
November 29, 2010 at 6:49 pm |
[…] fascinating history of Rat Island, a 2.5-acre parcel just off the Bronx. It was often a stepping stone for escaped […]
November 30, 2010 at 7:39 pm |
How is it possible that anyone lived there? I sail past it regularly in my boat and the thing is *tiny*. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good nor’easter covers the thing.
March 24, 2011 at 6:08 am |
[…] The curious history of the city's Rat Island « Ephemeral New York […]
July 20, 2011 at 12:48 am |
[…] then there are even tinier chunks of bedrock that aren’t usually named on maps: Rat Island, the Chimney Sweeps Islands, and High […]
October 25, 2011 at 3:24 pm |
See “The Bronx in Bits and Pieces” (latest edition by Rooftop Publising). Written by Bronx historian Bill Twomey it gives a complete history of Hart Island as well as the history of Rat Island, Anne Hutchinson,Haunted Cedar Knoll, Rikers Island, the Hell Gate Pilots, High Island, Stepping Stones, Rodman’s Neck, and everything else you’d want to knoe about the Bronx in 289 pages.
November 26, 2011 at 10:08 pm |
This island was recently purchased by a man named Schibli for $160k, and he says he has no plans to develop or alter it. 🙂