Twin Island, New York

Twin Island is part of Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, and also part of the "Hunter Island Marine Sanctuary" It is situated east of Hunters Island and north of Orchard Beach. It is wooded with exposed bedrock with glacial grooves. The island was originally part of the Indian hunting and fishing preserves known as Laap-Haw-Wach-King and was later purchased by Thomas Pell in 1654.

East and West Twin Islands (or the "Twins") were once true islands in Pelham Bay but have since been connected to each other and to Orchard Beach and nearby Rodman's Neck by landfill. They were acquired by the new York Parks Department in 1888 and were joined to the mainland in 1937 by the extension of Orchard Beach. East Twin Island is connected to neighboring Two Trees Island via a thin mudflat land bridge which is submerged at high tide. West Twin Island was at one time connected to neighboring Hunter Island via a man-made stone bridge , which now lies in ruins in one of the city's last remaining salt marshes. Member species of the islands' salt marsh ecosystem include egrets, cormorants, fiddler crabs, horseshoe crabs, and marine worms.

External Links

• Twin Island Marsh Restoration Orchard beach, The Bronx
• NYPL Digital Archives - Twin Island House