Esopus Island

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Esopus Island
Esopus Island from Mills-Norrie State Park marina.jpg
Esopus Island from the Mills Norrie State Park marina in Staatsburg
Etymology Esopus tribe of the Lenape Indian nation
Geography
Location Staatsburg, NY
Coordinates 41°49′31″N73°56′51″W / 41.825340°N 73.947425°W / 41.825340; -73.947425 Coordinates: 41°49′31″N73°56′51″W / 41.825340°N 73.947425°W / 41.825340; -73.947425
Adjacent bodies of water Hudson River
Total islands1
Length1,500 ft (460 m)
Width120 ft (37 m)

Esopus Island is an uninhabited island in the Hudson River. It is part of Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park, located in the town of Hyde Park in Dutchess County, in the state of New York.

Hudson River river in New York State

The Hudson River is a 315-mile (507 km) river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York in the United States. The river originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York, flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the Upper New York Bay between New York City and Jersey City. It eventually drains into the Atlantic Ocean at New York Harbor. The river serves as a political boundary between the states of New Jersey and New York at its southern end. Further north, it marks local boundaries between several New York counties. The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary, deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord, an inlet which formed during the most recent period of North American glaciation, estimated at 26,000 to 13,300 years ago. Tidal waters influence the Hudson's flow from as far north as the city of Troy.

Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park State park in Dutchess County, New York, United States

Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park is a 356-acre (1.44 km2) state park in Dutchess County, New York in the United States. The park is located on the east shore of the Hudson River in the Town of Hyde Park and also includes Esopus Island.

Hyde Park, New York Town in New York, United States

Hyde Park is a town in Dutchess County, New York, bordering the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie. Within the town are the hamlets of Hyde Park, East Park, Staatsburg, and Haviland. Hyde Park is known as the hometown of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States. His house there, the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places, as are the homes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Isaac Roosevelt, and Frederick William Vanderbilt, along with Haviland Middle School.

Contents

Geography

The island is located to the east of the center of the river channel, 84 miles (135 km) north of the river's mouth at New York City, roughly 1,200 feet (370 m) offshore, southwest of Norrie Point in Staatsburg, and opposite the mouth of Black Creek in the town of Esopus on the west shore. It is approximately 1,500 feet (460 m) long. In an 1894 book its shape was compared to "a great stranded and petrified whale". There is a beach on the southeast side and shoals at the north end. The island is wooded with outcrops of rock. [1] It is part of Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park and of the Hudson River Watertrail and has campsites, picnic areas, trails, and fishing access points, but can be reached only by boat. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

Staatsburg, New York Hamlet and CDP in New York, United States

Staatsburg is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Hyde Park, a town in Dutchess County, New York. The population was 377 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area.

Esopus, New York Town in New York, United States

Esopus is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 9,041 at the 2010 census. The town was named after the local Indian tribe and means "high banks" in English. They were one of the Lenape (Delaware) bands, belonging to a people who ranged from western Connecticut through lower New York, western Long Island, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania along the Delaware River.

Shoal A natural landform that rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface and is covered by unconsolidated material

In oceanography, geomorphology, and earth sciences, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. Often it refers to those submerged ridges, banks, or bars that rise near enough to the surface of a body of water as to constitute a danger to navigation. Shoals are also known as sandbanks, sandbars, or gravelbars. Two or more shoals that are either separated by shared troughs or interconnected by past or present sedimentary and hydrographic processes are referred to as a shoal complex.

To the south of the island is the much smaller Bolles Island, which is private property with a residence. [1] [4] [6]

History

The Lenape Indians are presumed to have made use of the island, and a stone on the east shore shows signs of human working, resembling a megalith. [1] There is a legend of a Jesuit missionary killed on the island by the Indians. [7]

Lenape Indigenous people originally from Lenapehoking, now the Mid-Atlantic United States

The Lenape, also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in Canada and the United States. Their historical territory included present-day New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania along the Delaware River watershed, New York City, western Long Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley. Today, Lenape people belong to the Delaware Nation and Delaware Tribe of Indians in Oklahoma; the Stockbridge-Munsee Community in Wisconsin; and the Munsee-Delaware Nation, Moravian of the Thames First Nation, and Delaware of Six Nations in Ontario.

Megalith Large stone used to build a structure or monument

A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. The word megalithic describes structures made of such large stones without the use of mortar or concrete, representing periods of prehistory characterised by such constructions. For later periods, the word monolith, with an overlapping meaning, is more likely to be used.

Society of Jesus male religious congregation of the Catholic Church

The Society of Jesus is a religious order of the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded by Ignatius of Loyola with the approval of Pope Paul III in 1540. The members are called Jesuits. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social ministries, and promote ecumenical dialogue.

In October 1777, during the Revolutionary War, a British fleet laid off Esopus Island prior to destroying Kingston, then the provincial capital. [8]

American Revolutionary War War between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies, which won independence as the United States of America

The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence, was an 18th-century war between Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies which declared independence as the United States of America.

Kingston, New York City in New York, United States

Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is 91 miles (146 km) north of New York City and 59 miles (95 km) south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area by the United States Census Bureau, It became New York's first capital in 1777, and was burned by the British on October 13, 1777, after the Battles of Saratoga. In the 19th century, the city became an important transport hub after the discovery of natural cement in the region, and had both railroad and canal connections. Passenger rail service has since ceased, and many of the older buildings are part of three historic districts, including the Stockade District uptown, the Midtown Neighborhood Broadway Corridor, and the Rondout-West Strand Historic District downtown.

In the second half of the 19th century the island was part of the estate of Robert Livingston Pell and was known as Pell Island. [1]

Robert Livingston Pell was an American landowner and descendant of several prominent colonial families of New York.

Aleister Crowley spent 40 days and 40 nights on Esopus Island (which he spelled "Oesopus") in 1918, translating the Tao Te Ching , meditating, and painting slogans on the rocks with red paint. Friends had given him money to buy a tent, a canoe, and stores for his retreat to the island, but instead of food he bought the paint, brushes, and rope for rappeling, saying that he would be "fed by ravens". Local people as well as friends brought him supplies. [1] [4] [5] [9]

It was illegal to camp on the island until it was incorporated into the New York State parks system. [1]

Esopus Island is featured prominently in the novel Piper Houdini: Nightmare on Esopus Island, in which Aleister Crowley returns to the island in 1926 to complete the ritual workings he began in 1918. [10]

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Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, nicknamed "Maid of the Meadows" and often simply referred to as the Esopus Light or Middle Hudson River Light is an active lighthouse on the Hudson River near Esopus, New York. The lighthouse stands on the west side of the channel, in the river, its granite foundation built atop piles that have been driven into the riverbed, and is accessible only by boat.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Frances Marion Platt, "Retrace steps of famed mystic Aleister Crowley on Esopus Island", Hudson Valley One, October 24, 2011.
  2. ↑ Final Master Plan/ Final Environmental Impact Statement for Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills Memorial State Park, Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park, and Staatsburgh State Historic Site, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, April 17, 2013, p. 24.
  3. ↑ Map: Master Plan, Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills Memorial State Park, Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park, Staatsburgh State Historic Site, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, April 17, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 Kandy Harris, "Destinations: Mysterious Esopus Island", Upstater, May 22, 2014.
  5. 1 2 Esopus Island, Atlas Obscura, retrieved September 23, 2016.
  6. ↑ Esopus Island Area - Hudson River, The Travels of Tug 44, retrieved September 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ Peter Lourie, River of Mountains: A Canoe Journey Down the Hudson, Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University, 1995, ISBN   9780815603153, Island&f=false p. 278.
  8. ↑ Frances F. Dunwell, The Hudson: America's River, New York: Columbia University, 2008, ISBN   9780231136402, p. 37.
  9. ↑ Lawrence Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley, New York: St. Martin's, 2000, ISBN   9780312252434,  n.p..
  10. ↑ "Supernatural thriller takes Houdini's niece from Coney Island to upstate's Esopus Island | Brooklyn Daily Eagle". www.brooklyneagle.com. Retrieved 2017-01-27.
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