New York Bay New York Bay New York Bay is the collective term for the marine areas surrounding the river mouth of the Hudson River into the Atlantic Ocean, in New Jersey and New York City. Its two largest components, which are connected by The Narrows, are: The term New York Harbor usually refers to the Upper New York Bay and Port of New York and New Jersey, but sometimes is taken to be a synonym of New York Bay. To the south of Manhattan are several islands in the New York Bay: Liberty Island, where the Statue of Liberty is; Ellis Island;
Liberty Island for ferry service to and from the island. At the time of European colonization of the Hudson River estuary in the mid-17th century, much of the west side of Upper New York Bay contained large tidal flats which hosted vast oyster beds, a major source of food for the Lenape native people who lived there at the time. Several islands were not completely submerged at high tide. Three of them (later known as Bedloe's/Love/Liberty, Ellis, and Black Tom) were given the name Oyster Islands ("oester eilanden") by the Dutch settlers of New Netherland, the first European colony in the Mid-Atlantic