Liberty Island states. The oyster beds would remain a major source of food for nearly three centuries. Landfilling, started by the 1870s, particularly by the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey, eventually obliterated the beds, engulfed one island and brought the shoreline much closer to the others. After the surrender of Fort Amsterdam by the Dutch to the British in 1664, the English governor Richard Nicolls granted the island to Captain Robert Needham. It was sold to Isaac Bedloe on December 23, 1667. The island was retained by his estate until 1732 when it was sold for five shillings
Mackinac Island, Michigan the British in 1763 following defeat in the Seven Years' War, the British established Fort St. Joseph and an installation on what was known as Michilimackinac. During the American Revolutionary War, they vacated the latter. The Americans established a garrison on what they called Mackinac Island by 1782, commanded by Captain Daniel Robertson; he had command until his death in 1787. In 1796 as a result of Jay's Treaty, the island officially became part of the United States and the Northwest Territory. In the early 1800s Mackinac Island had a permanent population of about 250. Although it was part of