We are delighted to introduce you to one of the most interesting communities in New York City, City Island, a small island with a rich nautical history. Much of its colorful past is preserved in the Nautical Museum, and during most of the year we are open every Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
 

The Museum will remain closed because of the coronavirus epidemic until further notice. In the meantime, we have been hard at work repairing damage in the Community Room, installing new objects in the Nautical Room, and preparing an exhibit of the works of Mark Whitcombe for our Gallery. Work continues on the oral history project, which will be launched later in the year. If you have any questions, please email info@cityislandmuseum.org or call 718-885-0507.

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We can accommodate special group visits to the museum for a fee of $5 per person. For more information, call 718-885-0507 and we will arrange for a docent to meet with you. In the meantime, look at the different sections of our website and get a sense of what we are all about. Click these links for information about the exhibits, group tours, including school groups, and for a walking tour of City Island.

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Visit Facebook for a look at hundreds of photographs of City Island Then and Now, posted by Tom Nye, the museum’s president.

City Island’s Boat-Building History Exhibit

At the turn of the 20th century, City Island was a major center for wooden boat building with a worldwide reputation for the highest quality. This exhibition of photographs and commentary focuses on the extraordinary period in City Island’s history when yacht and shipbuilding were at their peak. Here are all the old yards, the brilliant craftsmen who worked there, the methods of construction they used, and the famous sailing and motor yachts they produced. Also highlighted are the military vessels that were built here during the war years and the brilliant 12-meter sloops that successfully defended the America’s Cup seven times.

The next time (and every time) you shop at Amazon, go to 


 

select the City Island Historical Society as your charity of choice, and 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases will be made to the Nautical Museum.

The City Island Nautical Museum is proud to be a Distinctive Destination of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. We welcome all all National Trust members to receive half-price

admission ($2.50) when visiting our site. Visit distinctive-destinations for more information.

The City Island  Sail and Power Squadron will have its next one-day NYS safe boating certification course in April 2020 at the City Island Yacht Club. For more information, e-mail Richard Welch at cityislandabc@gmail.com 
or visit 
www.cityislandpowersquadron.org

The museum's programs are supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, thanks to Council Member Mark Gjonaj, and by the Bronx Council on the Arts through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Greater New York Arts Development Fund Regrants Program, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and the Bronx Delegation of the City Council. The City Island Nautical Museum was granted a permanent charter by the Board of Regents of the New York State Board of Education on January 11, 2012. And, on the basis of a careful consideration of the history and the architecture of the building at 190 Fordham Street in which the museum is housed, the Landmarks Preservation Commissioned Public School 102 (later Public School 17, The City Island School) a landmark because of its “special character and a special historical and aesthetic interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural characteristics of New York City.