At the very tip of City Island, where the Bronx finally gives way to the Long Island Sound, you'll find a small, rather peaceful seating area. It's perfect for contemplating the water, maybe a post-seafood daze. But if you look closely at the old, rotting wooden pilings poking out of the waves, you might just hear the ghost of a raucous, slightly scandalous past.
Because this wasn't always just a nice spot for a quiet sit. Back in the 1880s, this was Belden Point, a bustling summer resort and amusement park, dreamed up by a financier whose life story reads less like a historical footnote and more like a Gilded Age soap opera.
The Gold Plotter Who Built a Paradise
Meet William Belden. A man who, in the 1860s, was neck-deep in a scheme to inflate gold prices, which, naturally, led to a stock market panic. Despite investigations and general financial mayhem, Belden somehow still had enough cash to buy a mansion on City Island in 1885. Because apparently, that's how you bounce back when you're William Belden.
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But Belden's golden touch, much like his gold scheme, eventually unraveled. He'd allegedly cheated his mentally ill brother (a true gentleman, this one) and faced a lien on his beloved resort. He was forced to sell to railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, only to die in poverty years later. The mansion, meanwhile, stuck around as the City Island Athletic Club for over a century before burning down in 2006.
Today, the pilings are all that's left of Belden's grand, slightly shady vision. The area fell into disrepair for a while, a sad testament to forgotten glory. But the city eventually stepped in, cleaned things up, and built the small park with benches. So now, you can enjoy those tranquil views, perhaps with a newfound appreciation for the wild history beneath your feet. Just try not to think about gold market manipulation too much.
