Barren Island is a peninsula and former island on the southeast shore of Brooklyn in New York City. Located on Jamaica Bay, it was geographically part of the Outer Barrier island group on the South Shore of Long Island. The island was occupied by the Lenape Native Americans prior to the arrival of Dutch settlers in the 17th century. Its name is a corruption of Beeren Eylandt, the Dutch-language term for "Bears' Island".
View of Barren Island from Dead Horse Bay
A factory on Barren Island, pictured c. 1911–1916
The decommissioned Floyd Bennett Field, located on the former Barren Island site
Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, through Rockaway Inlet, and is the westernmost of the coastal lagoons on the south shore of Long Island. Politically, it is primarily divided between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City, with a small part touching Nassau County.
Jamaica Bay from the northwest (2013)
Plumb Beach, Brooklyn
IND Rockaway Line subway train crossing Jamaica Bay, 1973. Photo by Arthur Tress.
Jamaica Bay seen from Belt Parkway