The Sinking of Hog Island

There were once two islands, each named Hog Island strangely enough, and each located off the southern shores of Long Island. One Hog Island later became known as Nassau County's Barnum Island, and with sole exception of being submerged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, it has remained consistently above the water. As for the other Hog Island, that is another story, and a watery one at that.

Created from sand driven upwards by wave action in the waters off Queens County around the time of the Civil War, the lost Hog Island was but a buildup of sand, but what a build-up it was! Located under one-fifth of a mile offshore, the island was approximately one mile long, about 200 feet wide, and totally unclaimed. As you might guess, the race to develop the new land began in short order.

The new island eventually became a kind of playland for many of the New York elite, with restaurants, bars, and other establishments catering to well-heeled clients. Times were good on Hog Island until the hurricane season of 1893, at which point the island's fortunes declined. Initially, the storms blasted away some of the sand and caused an indeterminate amount of damage, but then came the power of the Midnight Storm, the tempest also known as the Hurricane of 1893. Overnight, Mother Nature huffed, puffed, and by dawn it was clear she had largely blown much of the island of sand away. Where there were buildings before the tempest hit, there was almost nothing but wreckage and emptiness on a greatly reduced landmass afterwards.

Developers rebuilt some of the sand island's recreational facilities, but after a few nor'easters came and went in the following years, the island was completely submerged by the early 1900s. Today, the only remnants of the once vibrant and largely forgotten island of fun and pleasure exist offshore, deep underwater, beneath layers of sand and silt. As of this writing, Hog Island is the last natural island near southwestern Long Island to have risen from the depths and returned to them.

-TR