Deer Island (Thousand Islands)

Last updated
Deer Island
Deerisland.jpg
Deer Island as photographed from aboard a Rockport Boat Line touring vessel.
USA New York location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Deer Island
Location of Deer Island within New York State.
Geography
Location Saint Lawrence River at Alexandria, Jefferson County, New York
Coordinates 44°21′44″N75°54′25″W / 44.36222°N 75.90694°W / 44.36222; -75.90694
Archipelago Thousand Islands
Total islands1,864
Major islands Dark Island, Longue Vue Island, Wellesley Island, Zavikon Island
Area0.078124686605 sq mi (0.20234200943 km2)
Highest elevation265 ft (80.8 m)
Highest point"Foot of the Island"
Administration
United States

Deer Island is one of the American Thousand Islands. It lies between mainland Canada and United States, within the Saint Lawrence River, in the Town of Alexandria, close to Alexandria Bay, New York. It is owned entirely by the Russell Trust Association and is used as a Skull and Bones retreat.

Contents

The island lies near Boldt Castle and can be seen up close from several Canadian and U.S. tour vessels that operate in the local waterways. The land on the island is densely overgrown, with a small lodge on the southern corner of the island.

Skull and Bones doesn't own an opulent island hideaway like the one depicted in The Skulls . It does own an island on the St. Lawrence River — Deer Island, in Alexandria Bay. The forty-acre retreat is intended to give Bonesmen an opportunity to "get together and rekindle old friendships". A century ago the island sported tennis courts and its softball fields were surrounded by rhubarb plants and gooseberry bushes. Catboats waited on the lake. Stewards catered elegant meals. But although each new Skull and Bones member still visits Deer Island, the place leaves something to be desired. "Now it is just a bunch of burned-out stone buildings," a patriarch sighs. "It's basically ruins." Another Bonesman says that to call the island "rustic" would be to glorify it. "It's a dump, but it's beautiful." The fading of Deer Island exemplifies the dwindling finances of Skull and Bones, which can no longer claim the largest society endowment at Yale. Unlike members of other societies, Bonesmen pay no dues, though patriarchs receive an annual letter requesting a "voluntary contribution to the Russell Trust Association." In truth, Skull and Bones has never been wealthy. [1]

Flora and fauna

The island is covered in indigenous trees, made up of mostly white pine, black oak, hemlock, and sugar maple  — typical of the Canadian Shield  — as is much of the surrounding area. There are several abandoned ruins located throughout the 50-acre (20 ha) island, now overgrown and barely visible beneath the growth.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bay of Fundy</span> Bay on the east coast of North America

The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The name is probably a corruption of the French word fendu, meaning 'split'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thousand Islands</span> Archipelago in the Saint Lawrence River

The Thousand Islands constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 50 miles (80 km) downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of Ontario and the U.S. islands in the state of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skull and Bones</span> Secret society headquartered at Yale University

Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior-class society at the university, Skull and Bones has become a cultural institution known for its powerful alumni and various conspiracy theories. It is one of the "Big Three" societies at Yale, the other two being Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scroll and Key</span> Secret society at Yale University

The Scroll and Key Society is a secret society, founded in 1842 at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. It is one of the oldest Yale secret societies and reputedly the wealthiest. The society is one of the reputed "Big Three" societies at Yale, along with Skull and Bones and Wolf's Head. Each spring the society admits fifteen rising seniors to participate in its activities and carry on its traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gulf Islands National Park Reserve</span> National park reserve in British Columbia, Canada

Gulf Islands National Park Reserve is a national park located on and around the Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada. In the National Parks System Plan, this park provides representation of the Strait of Georgia Lowlands natural region, the only place in Canada with a Mediterranean climate of dry, sunny summers and mild, wet winters, the result of a rain shadow effect from surrounding mountains between the region and the ocean. It has similar dominant vegetation as the Pacific Northwest, such as coastal Douglas-fir, western red cedar, shore pine, Pacific dogwood, bigleaf maple, and red alder, but also contains the northern extent of some of the more drought tolerant trees such as Garry oak and Arbutus. The park was created in 2003 as the fortieth national park. It covers 36 square kilometres (14 sq mi) of area on 16 islands and more than 30 islets, reefs and surrounding waters, making it the sixth smallest national park in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Trust Association</span> Business name of the Skull and Bones society

The Russell Trust Association is the business name for the New Haven, Connecticut-based Skull and Bones society, incorporated in 1856.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Key Biscayne</span> Island in Florida, United States

Key Biscayne is an island located in Miami-Dade County, Florida, located between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay. It is the southernmost of the barrier islands along the Atlantic coast of Florida, and lies south of Miami Beach and southeast of Miami. The key is connected to Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway, originally built in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnegat Bay</span> Bay in New Jersey

Barnegat Bay is a small brackish arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 42 miles (68 km) long, along the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. It is separated from the Atlantic by the long Island Beach State Park, as well as by the north end of Long Beach Island, popular segments of the Jersey Shore. The bay is fed by several small rivers, including the Toms River, the Forked River, the Metedeconk River, Cedar Creek, Oyster Creek, Mill Creek, Westecunk Creek, and Tuckerton Creek, all of which empty into the bay through small estuaries along its inner shore. The communities of Toms River, Silverton, and Forked River sit along the river estuaries on the bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgin Islands National Park</span> 14,700 acres in St. John, Virgin Islands (US) managed by the National Park Service

The Virgin Islands National Park is an American national park preserving about 60% of the land area of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as more than 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas harbor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake George (lake), New York</span> Lake in Warren County, New York, US

Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains, in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of New York. It lies within the upper region of the Great Appalachian Valley and drains all the way northward into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River drainage basin. The lake is situated along the historical natural (Amerindian) path between the valleys of the Hudson and St. Lawrence Rivers, and so lies on the direct land route between Albany, New York, and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The lake extends about 32.2 mi (51.8 km) on a north–south axis, is 187 ft (57 m) deep, and ranges from one to three miles in width, presenting a significant barrier to east–west travel. Although the year-round population of the Lake George region is relatively small, the summertime population can swell to over 50,000 residents, many in the village of Lake George region at the southern end of the lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Huntington Russell</span> American politician

William Huntington Russell was an American businessman, educator, and politician. Notably, he was a co-founder of the Yale University secret society Skull and Bones, along with Alphonso Taft.

Grindstone Island is the fourth largest of the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River and the second largest of the American islands in the St. Lawrence. The island lies near Lake Ontario and is part of the United States. In particular, the island is part of the Town of Clayton in Jefferson County, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chambers Island</span>

Chambers Island, named in honor of Col. Talbot Chambers, is a 2,834 acre island in Green Bay, about 7 miles (11 km) off the coast of the Door Peninsula, near Gibraltar, Wisconsin. It is part of the Town of Gibraltar in Door County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Maine Woods</span> Northern geographic area of the state of Maine

The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is divided into 155 unincorporated townships within the NMW management area. There are no towns or paved roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandra Robbins</span> American journalist and author

Alexandra Robbins is a journalist, lecturer, and author. Her books focus on young adults, education, and modern college life. Five of her books have been New York Times Bestsellers.

Carleton Island is located in the St Lawrence River in upstate New York. It is part of the Town of Cape Vincent, in Jefferson County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Lawrence Reservation</span> Former protected area in New York state

The St. Lawrence Reservation was a former protected area established by the state of New York in the Thousand Islands region along the St. Lawrence River in the late 19th century. The reservation's parks were some of the earliest lands purchased by New York State for the purposes of recreation and land preservation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Just Room Enough Island</span> Island in New York, United States

Just Room Enough Island, also known as Hub Island, is an island located in the Thousand Islands chain, in New York, United States. The island is known for being the smallest inhabited island, which appears to be around 3,300 square feet (310 m2), or about one-thirteenth of an acre. Purchased by the Sizeland family in the 1950s, the island has a house, a tree, shrubs, and a small beach.

Humans have inhabited Quebec for 11,000 years beginning with the de-glaciated areas of the St. Lawrence River valley and expanding into parts of the Canadian Shield after glaciers retreated 5000 years ago. Quebec has almost universally acidic soils that destroy bone and many other traces of human activity, complicating archaeological research together with development in parts of southern Quebec. Archaeological research only began in earnest in the 1960s and large parts of the province remain poorly researched.

References

  1. Robbins, Alexandra. "George W., Knight of Eulogia". The Atlantic (May 2000).