Echo Bay (New Rochelle, New York)

 water, bay

Echo Bay is a small bay off Long Island Sound in New Rochelle, New York. The bay is an anchorage for small craft, and is generally fully occupied during the summer. The depths at the anchorage range from four to fifteen feet, and launches can anchor in the shallow cove on the northeast side of the harbor, entering between Harrisons Islands and the rocky, grassy islet off the northwest side of Echo Island. There is a spindle on the end of the ledge making out from the southwest end of Harrisons Islands. Vessels frequently anchor between the entrance of Echo Bay and Hicks Ledge, in depths of twenty to twenty-four feet. On the northwest side of Echo Bay a dredged channel one hundred feet wide and ten feet deep, marked by buoys, leads to the wharf at Hudson Park. From the head of the improved channel there are two dredged channels, with a reported least depth of six feet; one leads northwestward to the coal and lumber wharf, and the other leads northward.

Premium Point is on the northeast side of the entrance of Echo Bay. ''Spindle Rock'', lying one hundred yards southwestward of Premium Point, is covered at high water, and is marked at its southwest end by a red buoy. ''Table rock'', bare at half tide, is on a reef which extends from the shore at a point three eigths of a mile eastward of Premium Point. A detached rock with seven feet over it marked by a black buoy lies at the end of the reef, approximately six hundred and fifty yards from shore. ''Hicks Ledge'', a small patch of rock with 8 feet over it, lies nearly one half of a mile southwestward of Premium Point. The passage between ''Spindle Rock'' and Premium Point is practically blocked by rocks which are hidden even at low tide. ''Baileys rock'' is near the end of a reef which extends about two hundred yards off the point of Davenport Neck, on the southwest side at the entrance of Echo Bay. The rock is marked on its eastern side by a gas buoy.

Just southwestward of Echo Bay there is a stone pier which protects a private boat landing on its southwest side. Pine Island is privately owned and covered with brush. Two bare rocks lie two hundred yards southwestward of Pine Island. Southwestward of the rocks there is a long, bare ledge, the southwest end of which is marked by a spindle with a cage. Between the spindle and two other spindles southward of it, there is a channel used by small craft navigating between Echo Bay and New Rochelle's Lower Harbor.

Land Use:

Waterfront land uses in the Echo Bay area include a mix of recreational, institutional, industrial, residential and commercial. Recreational uses include Hudson Park, Five Islands Park, Echo Island and Leif Erikson Park. Hudson Park, being the largest, contains a large area of beachfront and is home to the New Rochelle Rowing Club, the New Rochelle Harbor Patrol office and dock, and the Wildcliff Museum. Five Islands Park is comprised of a group of five islands, three of which are interconnected. This City-owned facility provides a variety of recreational opportunities. Echo Island is utilized by the Echo Bay Yacht Club, and contains a small beach, dock and clubhouse. Leif Erikson Park is a small pocket park located at the head of Ferris Creek.

Upland of Five Islands Park is the Salesian School, which is a private Roman Catholic facility. Adjacent to this institutional use is the Westchester County sewage treatment plant, which is located on the waterfront, along the eastern channel of Snuff Mill Creek and Echo Bay. Other land uses found in the vicinity of Snuff Mill Creek, include a mix of commercial and industrial activities. From west to east these include: the former Con-Edison property, which is now vacant ; the former Sentinel Oil property, which is now owned by the Jonel Development Corporation and utilized by the Landscape Depot; Echo Bay Marine Services , which formerly operated a small marina and boatyard which was acquired by the City in 1993; the Frost Sand and Gravel (Nelstead concrete plant); the New York State Armory; City Yard, which is a City of New Rochelle municipal facility; a small number of auto repair and auto sales establishments, which are located along Main Street; and 'the former Tesa Tech (Tuck Tape) site, which previously manufactured tape products.

The Ferris Creek portion of Echo Bay primarily contains marine commercial land uses. These include: the City of New Rochelle Municipal Marina site, which also contains a municipal parking area, a restaurant, a building housing a few commercial uses, and the New Rochelle Department of Traffic Services. The southern shoreline of Ferris Creek is the site of the Polychron Marina; the Hudson Park Bait and Tackle Shop, which also rents skiffs; and Dudley's Parkview Restaurant. The Echo Bay area contains a large mix of zoning districts. The Ferris Creek area, including Hudson Park, the City and Polychron Marina properties, and the properties at the head of the creek, is zoned 'Commercial-Marina'. The area along Snuff Mill Creek, from the former Con-Edison site to City Yard, is zoned 'Heavy Industry'. The sewage treatment plant, the former' Tesa Tuck Tape' manufacturing site, and the properties that front along the south side of Main Street are zoned 'Office Business'. The Salesian School property is zoned as 'planned Unit Development'. The remaining lands surrounding Echo Bay, which include the Sutton Manor residential development, Five Islands Park and Echo Island, and the Premium Mill Pond area, are zoned for residential use. The only exception to this is Tank Island, which is zoned 'General Business'.

History:

Historically, Echo Bay has supported both commercial and recreational water-related uses. Today, with the exception of the Snuff Mill Creek area, the majority of Echo Bay is utilized for marine-related recreation. The property on Ferris Creek that was purchased in 1690 for the development of a shipbuilding and West Indies trading business. In 1694 this land was sold to Joshua Ferris who operated a tavern on the site. In 1827, the property was purchased by David Harrison who built a dock in an attempt to re-establish local docking activities. The area eventually was developed as the New Rochelle Coal and Lumber Company. The Neptune Storage, an overseas packing company, was located adjacent to the coal and lumber yard. Another coal and lumber yard was operated by Alexander Hudson from the site of the present Harbor Patrol dock. These businesses, as well as other local area maritime operations, relied on waterborne transport.

The channel situated northeast of the Sutton Manor neighborhood is known as Snuff Mill Creek. This inlet of Echo Bay is the site of a former 'Snuff Creek Grist Mill' that was built in the early 18th century. A similar mill, the 'Crystal Lake Mill', was located at the head of the eastern channel of Snuff Mill Creek (in the Stephenson Boulevard area). In addition, a grist mill was operated at the head of Premium Mill Pond during the Revolutionary War. Around 1801, this mill was replaced by a new mill and dam that was constructed on Premium Point. Like the dam on Davenport Neck, this mill (which was reportedly one of the largest flour mills in the country) went into decline and was torn down in 1883.

In 1690, Jean Machet aquired the property that is now the New Rochelle Municipal Marina, from Jacob Leisler to develop his shipbuilding and trading business with the West Indies. He continued to own this land, as well as Echo Bay Island, until 1694 when he sold it to Joshua Ferris, a Tory, who renamed it Ferris Creek. Joshua Ferris ran a tavern on his property which became popular with Shubel Merritt and his gang of ruthless outlaws, the "Skinners". At the end of the Revolutionary War, Shubel Merritt was shot and killed in the Black Walnut Tavern at the corner of Old Town Dock and Pelham Roads. Enoch Crosby, General Washington's most celebrated spy was said to have started his career at the Ferris Tavern.

In 1827, David Harrison purchased the land and built a dock in an attempt to revive it as a local landing site. Snuff Mill Creek, located next to Sutton Manor, was built in the early 18th century by Jacob Leisler Jr. and operated as a grist mill along with a mill at Crystal Lake. It was later owned by David Lispenard and used as a snuff mill. Over succeeding years it passed through the hands of a number of Quakers, including one who was supposedly active in the movement to liberate slaves. The mill was said to have been used as a stop for the underground railroad. This area eventually became the home of the New Rochelle Coal and Lumber Company.