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
US Weather Bureau Station (Block Island) 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 previous year. It originally had meteorological instruments mounted on the roof and the grounds, and was used as a weather station until 1950.