Charles Island is a 14-acre (57,000 m²)

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

located roughly 0.5 mile (1 km) off the coast of

Milford, Connecticut Milford is a coastal city in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, located between New Haven and Bridgeport. The population was 50,558 at the 2020 United States Census. The city includes the village of Devon and the borough of Woodmont. ...

, in

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

centered at . Charles Island is accessible from shore via a

tombolo A tombolo is a sandy or shingle isthmus. A tombolo, from the Italian ', meaning 'pillow' or 'cushion', and sometimes translated incorrectly as ''ayre'' (an ayre is a shingle beach of any kind), is a deposition landform by which an island become ...

(locally referred to as a sandbar), which is exposed at low tide. According to early local histories, the Sachem Ansantawae resided there during the summer months. European discovery of the island occurred in 1614 when

Adriaen Block Adriaen (Arjan) Block (c. 1567 – buried April 27, 1627) was a Dutch private trader, privateer, and ship's captain who is best known for exploring the coastal and river valley areas between present-day New Jersey and Massachusetts during four v ...

sailed through and mapped

. The island appears on his hand-drawn map found in The Netherlands National Archives.

Access

Though an island during high

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

, during low tide it is accessible by foot using a rocky

that stretches from the beach to the island. Visitors are cautioned about the strong undertow and twice-daily flooding of the sandbar as a result of the tides. Currently (2005) the crossing window is at least two hours. However, Milford locals note that earlier in the 20th century the window was much greater, but

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

has reduced the size and width of the island and sandbar. Access to Charles Island via the sandbar is closed from dates including May 1 to August 31 to protect the bird population per sign posted and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Kayakers paddling on the side of the island not facing the Connecticut shore can be surprised by the wind and rougher waves, according to a spokesman for the Milford Fire Department. At about 2 a.m. on September 6, 2009, a 22-year-old kayaker went missing after his boat capsized. Another man with him swam to safety, but after more than a month, the victim's body had not been found.

History

Originally known as Poquehaug, after the area was settled by the English in 1639 the island was referred to as Milford Island. After Charles Deal bought the island in 1657 it became known as Charles Island. Deal made a failed attempt to raise tobacco on the island – one of the first such efforts in Connecticut. The WPA History of Milford indicates that Captain

William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...

visited Milford in 1699 when he was en route to Boston (where he was subsequently arrested for piracy and murder). Before Kidd's arrival in Boston, he off-loaded and buried treasure on

Gardiners Island Gardiner's Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiner's Bay between the two peninsulas at the east end of Long Island. It is long, wide and has of coastline. The isl ...

off the eastern tip of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. The treasure was retrieved after his arrest but questions remain as to whether all the treasure was in that cache and whether he may have buried more of it along Long Island Sound. Charlesisland

In 1835, the first permanent residence was constructed on the island by John Harris. After his death the island was owned by several different owners and in 1852 it was purchased by Elizur Pritchard of

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

who turned the large house into a summer resort known originally as Charles Island House and later as Ansantawae House. After the Civil War the resort closed and the island was leased to the George Miles Company as a base for their fish fertilizer operations. In 1884, the island was briefly considered as a location for the first clubhouse of American Yacht Club. After the Miles Company left the island it was relatively unused until the 1930s when the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

opened a religious retreat on the island. The Aquinas Retreat consisted of a chapel, small cabins for the retreatants, a central dining hall and religious shrines located along paths throughout the island. The retreat closed in the late 1930s and some remnants of it remain on the island.

Modern era

The State of Connecticut now owns the island and it is part of

Silver Sands State Park Silver Sands State Park is a public recreation area located on Long Island Sound in the city of Milford, Connecticut. The state park consists of of beach, dunes, restored salt marsh, open areas and woods as well as the bird sanctuary of Charle ...

. It is designated a Natural Area Preserve for the local bird population of

heron The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...

s and

egrets Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same buil ...

White-tail deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

were common, but the estimated 16 deer on the island were hunted by the Department of Environment Protection (now the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) in February 2011 to protect the nesting birds. The waters around the island have

bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...

, snapper blues,

sand shark Sand sharks, also known as sand tiger sharks, gray nurse sharks or ragged tooth sharks, are Lamniformes, mackerel sharks of the family (biology), family Odontaspididae. They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical waters. The three specie ...

s, and

horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to arachn ...

s. The waters west of the island have been a site for

oyster farming Oyster farming is an aquaculture (or mariculture) practice in which oysters are bred and raised mainly for their pearls, shells and inner organ tissue, which is eaten. Oyster farming was practiced by the ancient Rome, ancient Romans as early as t ...

since 2013, in an area of approximately .

References

External links

* New England Site.com.
The Curse of Charles Island, Charles Island History
.
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
{{authority control Coastal islands of Connecticut Milford, Connecticut Landforms of New Haven County, Connecticut Long Island Sound Tidal islands of the United States

Access

History

Modern era

Further reading

References

External links