History
Liberty Island, a small federally owned island in Upper New York Bay, is the site of the Statue of Liberty and a legally unusual part of New York despite lying off Jersey City. First known to Dutch settlers as one of the Oyster Islands and later called Bedloe’s Island, it passed from private ownership to federal control in 1800 for harbor defense. Fort Wood, built there in the early 19th century, later became the pedestal base for the Statue of Liberty, dedicated in 1886. Renamed Liberty Island in 1956, it became part of Statue of Liberty National Monument and remains both a national symbol and a distinctive jurisdictional landmark.
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New York, New York · United States
