Ellis Island the region. The oyster beds remained a major source of food for nearly three centuries. Landfilling to build the railyards of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Central Railroad of New Jersey eventually obliterated the oyster beds, engulfed one island, and brought the shoreline much closer to the others. During the colonial period, Little Oyster Island was known as Dyre's, then Bucking Island. In the 1760s, after some pirates were hanged from one of the island's scrubby trees, it became known as Gibbet Island. It was acquired by Samuel Ellis, a colonial New Yorker and merchant possibly from Wales, around
US Weather Bureau Station (Block Island) It was then converted for use as a summer tourist residence. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. US Weather Bureau Station (Block Island) The U.S. Weather Bureau Station is an historic former weather station on Beach Avenue on Block Island, Rhode Island. It is a two-story wood frame structure, three bays wide, with a flat roof surrounded by a low balustrade. There is a full-width porch across the front, supported by grouped columns. The Classical Revival building was designed by Harding & Upman, and constructed in 1903, replacing a station destroyed by fire the