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
Fowley Island the causeway to the island on the eel grass that once filled the water bed. The reduction in eel grass over the last century means that such a crossing is no longer possible. Fishermen would have taken a horse and cart across the causeway to Fowley Island and stored oysters in large ponds that they had dug there before taking them back for sale. The Ordnance Survey map of 1898 shows two such oyster beds on Fowley Island, activity which has resulted in the island's distinctive present shape. The effort required to create a causeway of this size shows the