Governors Island, a 172-acre (70-hectare) an island in Upper New York Bay just south of Manhattan Island. The Dutch governor of New Netherland (New York) bought the island from the Indians in 1637. After 1698 the colony's English governors lived here. New York State ceded the island to the federal government. Fort Jay was built in the early 1800's. From 1966 to 1997 the island was a U.S. Coast Guard base. The federal government designated the northern part of the island a national monument in 2001 and returned the remainder of the island to New York in 2003.