Ellis Island public and the museum partially re-opened on October 28, 2013, after major renovations. Originally much of the west shore of Upper New York Bay consisted of large tidal flats which hosted vast oyster banks, a major source of food for the Lenape population who lived in the area prior to the arrival of Dutch settlers. There were several islands which were not completely submerged at high tide. Three of them (later to be known as Liberty Island, Black Tom Island and Ellis Island) were given the name Oyster Islands by the settlers of New Netherland, the first European colony in
Daufuskie Island spawning season of oysters. On this island the oysters grow in clusters rather than individually. The natives of this island valued the natural abundance oyster present on the island. Massive mounds of shucked oyster shells found on the island stand as testament to the extensive use of oysters on the island by the native. Native Americans used the meat of the oysters as food and used shells to fashion tools, fertilizers, and tabby. The oyster industry hit Daufuskie island in the 1880s when an Italian immigrant named Luigi Paolo Maggioni leased oyster beds and opened a raw shuck oyster house