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Governors Island, New York (U.S.)

by Richard Knipel

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Governors Island is located in New York Harbor. Though basically never populated, it has served a disproportionate role in history. It was the site of the first Dutch settlement in the area, was the residence of the British governors (hence the name), and most significantly, for two centuries served as an important US army base. After the army left in 1966, the island served as a US Coast Guard base, the largest in the world, until 1997. To be sure, many flags have flown over this island.

In recent years, there has been a movement for the return of the island to the city for popular use, pioneered by late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In 2001, the 20 of the island's 172 acres surrounding historic Fort Jay and Castle Williams (0.08/0.70 km) were declared a National Monument. And on April 1 2002, President Bush sold Governors Island to the city for $1, a better price even than the Dutch had paid the local Indians in 1637.

To mark the event, the Governors Island Alliance, a coalition of 55 civic groups supporting popular use of the island, launched a celebratory thousand-boat flotilla into New York harbor on June 2nd of that year. These made good use of a 'Governors Island Flag', apparently the brainchild of strategy marketing firm 'LevelM'. This is modeled on the American flag, with the whole hoist side blue with a white silhouette of the island and the fly side with the thirteen red and white stripes.

Here is the highlight of the June 2, 2002 event (taken from: http://www.reclaimgovernorsisland.org/Program%20Schedule.htm):

"11:45AM Governors Island Flag is c