Columbia Island (formerly Little Pea Island), is an

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 isla ...

in the

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 ...

and part of

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state o ...

. It is situated off the south-eastern coast of Davids Island, immediately adjacent to

Pea Island Pea Island is an island which is part of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Because of the shifting nature of the barrier island system of which Pea Island is a part, and the way in which inlets open and close over time, Pea Island has, at times, ...

. Before sea walls and other structures were built on the island, the exposed rock varied in size from about one acre to 175 square feet depending on the tide. Columbia Island

It was once owned by the Iselin family who sold it to the Huguenot Yacht Club along with Pea Island in 1936. Three years later the club sold Little Pea Island to the

Columbia Broadcasting System CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, which appropriately renamed it "Columbia". As a result of engineering surveys designating the area around New Rochelle and Port Washington on Long Island Sound as the ideal locality for a radio transmitter to serve the metropolitan New York area, new stations were constructed on these sites by both the Columbia ("CBS") and National ("NBC") broadcasting systems in 1940. CBS purchased the island as the site for a new broadcast

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

for WCBS (then known by the call sign WABC). '
Reprint
'' CBS spent approximately $500,000 to construct the

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

building with emergency housing for ten workers, and the 410-foot (125 m) broadcast tower. The station contained a 50,000-watt transmitter housed in a copper-walled building. There also was a 5,000-watt transmitter unit for emergency use. Electric power was supplied through two submarine cables, which were connected to separate power plants to prevent interruption of service. Emergency generators were installed on the island for protection against power failure. The men who operated the station lived within a grounded metal shell under which were living quarters for engineers, workshops, electrical units that supplied tube voltages, and the backup generator. The transmitter remained in operation until 1963, when it became obsolete, and the station was moved to nearby High Island. CBS work to build a high-power broadcasting station included drilling through bedrock to a source of fresh water, found at a depth of . The island was then purchased by the show-business couple Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, who broadcast a breakfast conversation show from their home there. It was part of a package that included a strip of waterfront property, a speedboat, and a tugboat. The couple later gave the island to the

College of New Rochelle The College of New Rochelle (CNR) was a private Catholic college with its main campus in New Rochelle, New York, but also in Australia, England, and Germany. It was founded as the College of St. Angela by Mother Irene Gill, OSU of the Ursuline O ...

. In 2005, the then-current owner of the island sought to demolish the old transmitter building and replace it with a private residence. (Site defunct prior to 10/2010) Pathologist

Al Sutton Albert L. Sutton (December 7, 1933 – October 20, 2022) was an American pathologist. He retired from medicine in 1979 and became a real estate developer. Sutton died on October 20, 2022, at the age of 88. References External links * ...

bought Columbia Island in 2007. To make the island more livable, he constructed an off-the-grid "green" home within the concrete building with solar panels. In June 2019, Columbia Island and nearby

were jointly put on sale with a list price of $13 million. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Sutton described the property as a "money pit", constantly needed more money to maintain. Sutton spent $8 million on the property.

References

External links

(GNIS) - Columbia Island

Google - Map

Satellite image

NYHometown Locator - Columbia Island

Map

{{Coord, 40.87754, -73.76577, source:placeopedia, display=title Geography of New Rochelle, New York Long Island Sound Islands of Westchester County, New York Islands of New York (state) Private islands of New York (state)