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Basic island data Location: Potomac River, Washington DC Coordinates: 38.90° N, 77.06° W Area: 88.5 acres / hectares Population: uninhabited High point: 44 feet / 13 meters Alternate names: – Alternate: Roosevelt Island – Former: Analostan Island, Anacosta Island – Former: My Lord’s Island – Former: Barbados, Barbadoes, My Lords Barbados – Former: Mason’s Island, Colonel Mason’s Island SOURCES: – Coordinates: Geographic Names Information System, US Geological Survey. – Area: National Park Service. – High point: US Geological Survey topographic map. – Former names: Philip Woodworth Ogilvie, Along the Potomac (Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing, 2000), 67; “Theodore Roosevelt Island,” National Park Service, viewed August 2009; “Feature Detail Report for: Theodore Roosevelt Island,” Geographic Names Information System, US Geological Survey, viewed August 2009. – History: Brant, Mason – Philip Woodworth Ogilvie, Along the Potomac (Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing, 2000), 67; “Feature Detail Report for: Theodore Roosevelt Island,” Geographic Names Information System, US Geological Survey. – History: causeway building and removal – National Park Service historical marker, viewed April 2007. – Civil War: “Backlight,” Washington Post Magazine, June 18, 2000, 5. – History: Columbia Athletic Club –“Feature Detail Report for: Theodore Roosevelt Island,” Geographic Names Information System, US Geological Survey; open fields: illustration in Philip Woodworth Ogilvie, Along the Potomac (Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing, 2000), 70. – History: Roosevelt Memorial purchase and building – “Theodore Roosevelt Island,” National Park Service, viewed August 2009. – History: bridge building – Philip Woodworth Ogilvie, Along the Potomac (Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing, 2000), 68.

Theodore Roosevelt Island Theodore Roosevelt Island is an 88.5-acre island in the Potomac River in the District of Columbia. It is national park land and the site of the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial. It is the fourth-largest island in the District of Columbia. The island is largely forested and rises to a 44-foot hill. A tidal, marshy inlet indents the island from the southeast end. The island is connected to the Virginia shore by a footbridge, and has a number of walking trails. The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial consists of a plaza surrounded by an artificial pool bridged by walkways. Inscriptions commemorate Roosevelt’s life and thought, and a large statue overlooks the plaza. Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge crosses above the island’s southern tip, overshadowing part of the island. Little Island lies at its south end. History The island was called Analostan by Indians. Lord Baltimore granted the island to Captain Randolf Brant in 1681, and Brant renamed the island Barbados. After it was purchased by George Mason in 1717, it came to be known as Mason’s Island. A causeway built in 1805 connected the island to the Virginia shore, giving access to a ferry run by the Mason family from the island to Georgetown. The Mason family sold the island in 1834. During the Civil War, the island was used by Union troops. The Georgetown ferry was operating during the conflict. In the later nineteenth century the island was home to the Columbia Athletic Club. Much of the island was open field as of the 1880s. The island was renamed after the Roosevelt Memorial Association purchased it in 1931. The Roosevelt Memorial was built in the 1960s and dedicated in 1967. The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge was constructed across the island in 1964; during the work, the bridge was connected to the Virginia shore by a temporary access causeway. The nineteenth century causeway was removed when the pedestrian footbridge was opened in 1979.

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island geography / biggest island