Liberty Island - History - Bedloe's Island

Bedloe's Island

After the surrender of Fort Amsterdam by the Dutch to the British in 1664, the English governor Richard Nicolls granted the island to Captain Robert Needham. It was sold to Isaac Bedlow December 23, 1667. The island was retained by his estate until 1732 when it was sold for 5 shillings to New York merchants Adolphe Philipse and Henry Lane. During their ownership, the island was temporarily commandeered by the city of New York to establish a smallpox quarantine station.

In 1753 the island is described in an advertisement (in which "Bedlow's" had become "Bedloe's") as being available for rental:

To be Let. Bedloe's Island, alias Love Island, together with the dwelling-house and lighthouse being finely situated for a tavern, where all kinds of garden stuff, poultry, etc., may be easily raised for the shipping outward bound, and from where any quantity of pickled oysters may be transported ; it abounds with English rabbits."

In 1756 Kennedy allowed the island to again be used as a smallpox quarantine station, and on February 18, 1758 the Corporation of the City of New York bought the island for £1,000 for use as a pest house.

When the British troops occupied New York Harbor in the lead-up to the American Revolutionary War, the island was to be used for housing for Tory refugees, but on April 2, 1776, the buildings constructed on the island for their use were burned to the ground.