Belden Point on City Island: a forgotten summer resort with a scandalous past

Full text

Anyone who wanders to the very end of City Island Avenue will reach a small seating area looking out over the waters of Long Island Sound, from which portions of Queens and Nassau County can be seen. Only rows of rotting wooden pilings hint at this spot’s former life as a summer resort and amusement park.

In the 1860s financier William Belden was a controversial figure, having conspired with Jay Gould and Jim Fisk to inflate the price of gold, a plot that eventually caused a stock market panic. After years of investigations, he still had enough money to purchase a mansion at the southern tip of City Island in 1885 and develop it and the surrounding area into a summer resort, with the mansion itself becoming a French restaurant. The resort was a big hit, leading Belden to further develop it with features like a bowling alley and a billiard hall. Visitors could easily reach the area via steamboat, which ran to City Island frequently.

Unfortunately, the good times could not last; Belden had cheated his mentally ill brother and was now expected to pay damages as a result, while one of Belden’s many other creditors had obtained a lien on the resort property. Belden would sell the land to railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, who died just a few short years later. Belden was never able to get the land back and without it, he died in impoverished obscurity.

The mansion itself would continue to stand for over 100 years as part of the City Island Athletic Club, but it would eventually burn to the ground in 2006. As for the former dock at the end of the street, it lay in ruins, with access to the waterfront blocked off by a chain link fence and the shore often used for illegal dumping. Eventually the city stepped in and renovated the area, building a small park with benches where people can now look over the water in tranquil peace after enjoying a hearty meal at one of the many seafood restaurants lining City Island Avenue.