Hunter Island (also Hunters Island or Hunter's Island) is a 166-acre (67 ha) peninsula and former island in the Bronx, New York City, United States. It is situated on the western end of Long Island Sound, along the sound's northwestern shore, and is part of Pelham Bay Park in the northeastern part of the Bronx. Hunter Island initially covered 215 acres (87 ha) and was one of the Pelham Islands, the historical name for a group of islands in western Long Island Sound that once belonged to Thomas Pell. The island is connected to another former island, Twin Island, on the northeast.
The area around Hunter Island was originally settled by the Siwanoy Native Americans. One of Pell's descendants, Joshua Pell, moved onto the island in 1743. It was subsequently owned by the Hunter and Henderson families, and the island was briefly named Henderson's Island after the latter. Henderson's Island was purchased by politician John Hunter in 1804. Hunter built a mansion on the island and his family resided on the island until 1865, when it was sold to former mayor Ambrose Kingsland. Several other people owned Hunter Island before being incorporated into Pelham Bay Park in 1888. Subsequently, the island became a vacation destination. In the 1930s, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses extended nearby Orchard Beach, to the south of the island, by connecting Hunter Island to the mainland.
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