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
Long Island Sound County and Oyster Bay on Long Island; between New Haven, Connecticut and Shoreham on Long Island; between Bridgeport, Connecticut and Port Jefferson on Long Island; or between Orient Point, New York and Rhode Island. A tunnel under the sound, as between Rye and Oyster Bay has also been proposed, to carry both freeway lanes and railroads. However, no crossing has been built since the Throgs Neck Bridge in the early 1960s. The Long Island Sound ecosystem has historically been polluted by a number of different sources, including industry, agriculture and communities (untreated sewage and urban runoff). Pollutants entering the Sound