Falkner Island

Falkner Island (also called Faulkner's Island) is a crescent-shaped island located in Long Island Sound 3 miles (5 km) off Guilford, Connecticut, United States. The island has been visited by the Native Americans for thousands of years. Its Quinnipiac name is "Massancummock", meaning "the place of the great fish hawks". In 1641, Henry Whitfield and the founders of Guilford purchased the island from the Mohegan tribe's sachem, Uncas, as part of a transaction for the land east of East River. Purchased by the Stone family in 1715, it remained in the family until it was sold to the government in 1801.

The Falkner Island Light was constructed in 1802 and commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson. The light is the second oldest in Connecticut and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The lighthouse was automated in 1978, and continues to operate as a navigational aid to the nearby Intracoastal Waterway. The island is part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge and has the fifth-largest colony of nesting roseate terns in the northeastern United States. Much of the island's land mass has been lost to erosion, down to about from its original . The United States Army Corps of Engineers reinforced the eastern boundary to slow the advancing deterioration.

Name origins

The first recorded name of the Falkner Island was coined by the Native Americans. The island name in Quinnipiac was "Massancummock" meaning "the place of the great fish hawks". Early English settlers called it "Falcon Island", likely stemming from the Native American name. An archaeological survey performed on the island from 1997-1998 found a quartz projectile point of the Squibnocket triangle variety which dates to 1000-3000 B.C. In 1715, Caleb and Ebenezer Stone purchased the island and it remained in the Stone family until 1801. In 1800, Noah Stone sold it to a distant relative named Medad Stone for $158.34 (). The erosion control project was completed, but Hurricane Irene and Hurricane Sandy greatly reduced the breeding habitat of the terns to just . By 1987, the total area has fallen to 2.87 acres and it was projected that it could lose another 12 inches each year until the lighthouse crumbles into the sea around 2026. Access to Falkner Island and the light is restricted during the nesting season of the roseate terns, from May to August. The Falkner Island Lighthouse is the second oldest extant lighthouse in Connecticut and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Wildlife

In 1985, the island became part of the Stewart B. McKinney National Wildlife Refuge after it was acquired from the U.S. Coast Guard. According to the Connecticut Audubon Society, "it currently supports over 95% of the nesting Common Terns in Connecticut. It is the site of one of the ten largest Roseate Tern (~45 pairs) colonies in Northeastern North America, and is the only regular nesting location for this federally endangered species in the state."

Falkner Island

Name origins

Wildlife

See also

References