High Island

Ever wonder what secrets hide just off City Island’s coast? High Island, a small, privately-owned islet, sits quietly in Long Island Sound. It’s uninhabited now, but its history is far from silent. High Island, once called Shark Island because of the sand sharks in Pelham Bay, has a unique gumdrop shape. This shape likely inspired its current name. High Island’s story begins with Elisha King. He bought the island in 1829 to quarry stone. This stone helped build Fort Schuyler and parts of Fort Totten. Imagine workers hauling stone across the sound. Later, High Island became a summer haven. In the 1920s, the Miller family rented out cottages to around 40 families. It must have been idyllic, a peaceful escape from the city’s heat. Then, in 1960, everything changed. NBC purchased High Island. They built a towering radio transmission tower, sharing it with CBS. High Island became the voice of WNBC and WCBS. But disaster struck in 1967. A small plane crashed into the tower, silencing both stations. An emergency tower quickly went up, and a permanent replacement was built with a backup. High Island still stands, broadcasting WFAN and WCBS signals from its impressive towers. The taller tower stretches an incredible 548 feet into the sky. High Island has a caretaker’s house, though unoccupied since 2007. The island, now maintained by engineers, stands as a monument to a rich and varied past, a silent broadcaster in the bustling city.