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
Council Rock (Oyster Bay, New York) detail in his Journal, later published after his death. An excerpt from this follows: Then we crossed the Sound, all very wet, and much difficulty we had to get to land, the wind being strong against us. But blessed be the Lord God of heaven and earth, and of the seas and waters, all was well. We got safe to Oyster-bay, in Long-Island, the seventh of the sixth month (1672) , very early in the morning, which, they say, is about two hundred miles from Rhode-Island. At Oyster-bay we had a very large meeting... From Oyster-bay, we passed about thirty