Starin's Glen Island

Starin's Glen Island was a summer resort in the community of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York, developed by shipping magnate and U.S. Congressman John H. Starin in the late 1800s. Starin's resort, referred to as "America's pleasure grounds" and "Disneyworld on the Sound", was the first theme park in the country. The park's original design exhibited the five cultures of the western world on individual islands linked together with piers and causeways. The extreme popularity of the park resulted in a building boom in New Rochelle in the first decade of the twentieth century.

The resort was located on Glen Island in New Rochelle's Lower Harbor just off of Long Island Sound. The island is situated between Davids', Neptune and Travers Islands in New Rochelle, and Hunter Island in nearby New York City. Although now one island, the site originally consisted of one large main island in close proximity to at least four smaller nearby islands and a number of rocky outcroppings and low-lying flats and salt marshes.

The site is currently occupied by the county's Glen Island Park, which includes remnants of some of the historic structures.

Until the late 1700s the area was inhabited to some extent by the Siwanoy Indians of Algonquin stock. The first owner of whom there is record was John or Johannes Berhuyt or Barhyt, who purchased the farm of Jacob Theroulde in 1701. In 1760 he presented the island to his son Andre Barhy who proceeded to sell it to his brother-in-law, George Cromwell, six years later. The active part taken by Cromwell in events leading up to the Revolution in opposition to the Patriot cause brought him disaster, and his property was confiscated. In 1784, it was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeitures.

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