Gardiners Island
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| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Gardiners Bay |
| Total islands | 2 |
| Area | 5.184 sq mi (13.43 km2) |
| Administration | |
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United States
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| State | New York |
| County | Suffolk County |
Gardiners Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiners Bay between the two peninsulas at the East end of Long Island. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) long, 3 miles (4.8 km) wide and has 27 miles (43 km) of coastline. The island has been owned by the Gardiner family and their descendants for nearly 400 years, and it is the only American real estate still intact as part of an original royal grant from the English Crown. It is one of the larger privately owned islands in the United States, but not the largest. It is slightly smaller than Naushon Island in Massachusetts, owned by the Forbes family.
The island is 3,318 acres (1,343 ha) in size. It includes more than 1,000 acres (400 ha) of old growth forest and another 1,000 acres (405 ha) of meadows. Many of the buildings date back to the 17th century. In 1989, the island was said to be worth $125 million.
The island has the largest stand of white oak in the American Northeast. Other trees include swamp maple, wild cherry and birch. The island is home to New York state's largest colony of ospreys, and is one of the few locations in the world where they build their nests on the ground, as there are no natural predators to the osprey on the island.
Its structures include the oldest surviving wood-frame structure in New York state, a carpenter's shed built there in 1639, as well as a private airstrip on the south side of the island.
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Wikipedia