Rodman's Neck

Rodman's Neck refers to a peninsula of land in the Bronx, New York jutting out into Long Island Sound.

The southern third of the 'neck' is used as a firing range by the New York Police Department; the remaining wooded section is part of Pelham Bay Park. The north side is joined to what used to be Hunters Island and Twin Island to form Orchard Beach and a parking lot.

A small bridge between Rodman's Neck and City Island is City Island's only connecting point to the mainland.

Rodman's Neck has four meadows, of which two are natural salt water meadows, one is a natural freshwater meadow, and the other is a manmade freshwater meadow created by Robert Moses. There is also The City Island Traffic Circle and several small ballfields. Every original building has been razed. A landfill area for City Island Road crosses Turtle Cove Saltwater Marsh with a drain made of concrete pipes connecting it to Eastchester Bay.

History

Rodman's Neck is named after a local man, Samuel Rodman. It was originally named Anne's Hoeck after Anne Hutchinson, who was killed in a Native American massacre at nearby Split Rock. The southern tip, known as Pell's Point, is where the British landed during the Revolutionary War Battle of Pell's Point.

Controversy

Many residents of City Island have been complaining for years about the noise that comes from the gun firing, and detonation of weapons at Rodman's Neck, as they have a tendency to shake City Island and the houses on it. This issue has been addressed many times, most notably at a town hall meeting hosted by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani at Public School 175 in March of 1998, where it was determined by city officials that there was no solution to the noise problem, as there would be no other practical venue for the NYPD range to be.

External links

* [http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=12115 Rodman's Neck History]
* [http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/vt_pelham_bay_park/vt_pelham_09.html Robert Moses Meadow]