Frenchman Island
Postcard showing Frenchman Island's steamboat landing in 1910.
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 Frenchman Island
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| Geography | |
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| Location | Oneida Lake |
| Coordinates | 43°13′06″N 76°02′59″W / 43.21833°N 76.04972°WCoordinates: 43°13′06″N 76°02′59″W / 43.21833°N 76.04972°W |
| Area | 26 acres (11 ha) |
| Highest elevation | 384 ft (117 m) |
| Administration | |
| State | New York |
| County | Oswego |
| Town | Constantia |
Frenchman Island (also known as Frenchman's Island) is a 26-acre (11 ha) island located in Oneida Lake in Oswego County, New York, United States. It was known historically as "Seven Mile Island" during the American Revolution and by the Onondaga people as Kah-wha-nah-kee.
Though it was once home to a popular resort, the island is today uninhabited and largely undeveloped, with the exception of an active lighthouse. The island is open to the public for recreational use, however it can only be reached by boat.
Frenchman Island derives its name from a legend describing the island's first colonial inhabitants. The story varies between accounts, but generally tells of a French man and a wealthy French woman who eloped to the Americas in defiance of the woman's father. They built a home upon the island in the late 1700s where they remained for seven years, having three children during that time. Visitors were surprised to find a well-apportioned home upon the island, which was at that time deep in a largely unsettled wilderness. Eventually, the father reconciled with his daughter, and the family was allowed to return to France.
visited the island in 1831, retracing the story of the Frenchman in Joachim Heinrich Campe's Voyage au lac Onéida (1803), but found only scanty remains of the house.
The island hosts one of the three lighthouses used to guide navigation on Oneida Lake. The lighthouses were built in 1917 as part of the New York State Barge Canal, which uses Oneida Lake as part of its water route from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The Frenchman Island Lighthouse is still in operation today and is managed by the New York State Canal Corporation. While the lighthouse was completed in August 1917, it may not have been first lit until 1918. Today, the tower's 1,500 candlepower occulting white light is powered by commercial electricity, although it was gas-powered for several years after its initial completion.
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Wikipedia