NPS photo

Experience Your America, visit your 390 National Parks.

What are "they" going to do with the Island?

There are two agencies on Governors Island who are entrusted with its future: the National Park Service (NPS) and the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC).

• The National Park Service is a federal government agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior. On Governors Island NPS manages a 22-acre National Monument, which was established to protect Fort Jay and Castle Williams, two of the country’s finest examples of coastal fortifications.
  
  The National Park Service's plans for the National Monument are described in a Draft General Management Plan / Environmental Impact Statement. The draft has been released and is open for review and comment. Please visit the Planning, Environment and Public Comment site for details.
  

• GIPEC, a partnership of New York City and New York State, is responsible for the planning, redevelopment and ongoing operations for 150 acres of Governors Island. GIPEC plans can be found at www.govisland.com

What's in a name? - How Governors Island got its name.

• The island was originally used by the Lenape Native Americans. They may have used the island on a seasonal basis for fishing and the gathering of nuts from the plentiful nut trees.
  
• When the Dutch arrived in the 1620's they spent their first winter on the island calling it "Nooten Eylandt" or nut island.
  
• When the British took New Amsterdam from the Dutch they called the island "Nutten Island" (a mispronunciation of "Nooten") or Nut Island.  The British colonial assembly in New York later decreed that the island was to be given to "His Majestie's Royal Governors" for their private use. The Governors used the island for various purposes, but not as a permanent residence. The island became known as "The Governor's Island" eventually losing "The" and the apostrophe, leaving the current name as it stands today, Governors Island.