Chimney Sweeps Islands
The Chimney Sweeps Islands are a pair of small
Pelham Bay. The islands are entirely made out of bedrock. The islands are uninhabited, but are home to many birds, such as gulls, skuas, and great blue herons. The islands are owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, which acquired them in 1939 from the Chimney Sweeps Islands Corporation, a private group that used the islands for recreation,[1] and are now a part of Pelham Bay Park.[2]
There are two local legends about the origin of the islands' name. One is that from a distance the two islands look like Chimney Sweeps, which were brooms or tools used to clean and sweep out chimneys. The other was that a person that became rich sweeping chimneys bought the islands.[2][3][4] A former owner of the islands, Mr. Russell Smith, suggested that the name originated in the now archaic usage of the term "chimney" to describe the flow of water between two rocks.[1]
In the early 1900s, a family lived and operated a tavern on the islands.[5]
Chimney Sweeps Islands
See also
- The Pelham Islands
References
- ^ a b "Talk of the Town". The New Yorker. January 7, 1939.
- ^ a b "The Islands of Pelham Bay". New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
- ISBN 0-941980-16-2.
- ^ "Islet Lore: Soldiers, Prisoners, the Rich, the Dead and, Perhaps, the Devil". The New York Times. July 9, 1995. Retrieved 2010-02-14.
- ISBN 978-0-88150-945-8.
External links
| Major islands |  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham Islands | |||||
| New York Bay |
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| Jamaica Bay | |||||
| North River (Hudson River) | |||||
Former islands shown in italics | |||||