Why a New York City landmark sits firmly within the waters of New Jersey

Countries & Cities · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Liberty Island is a geographic paradox. Though it serves as a quintessential symbol of New York, the island is an exclave of Manhattan surrounded entirely by New Jersey waters. This strange jurisdictional arrangement stems from colonial-era land grants and a 19th-century compact that still governs the island today.

The island’s complex legal status dates back to a 1664 colonial land grant that defined New Jersey’s borders using ambiguous language rather than the river's midpoint. This ambiguity led to centuries of jurisdictional friction. By 1834, Congress ratified a compact between New York and New Jersey establishing the state boundary at the center of the shared waterway. Crucially, this agreement placed Liberty Island—then known as Bedloe's Island—within New Jersey's geographic waters, yet explicitly designated it as territory belonging to New York.

This arrangement has been tested repeatedly. In 1908, the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the 1834 compact, and subsequent challenges in 1986 by New Jersey residents and officials were dismissed or ignored by courts. Today, the federal government owns the island, and the National Park Service oversees it as part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. While New York retains sovereignty, allowing it to collect sales tax and serve legal process, the island’s physical reality remains tied to New Jersey, which holds riparian rights to the surrounding submerged land.

The island’s physical footprint has also evolved. Originally part of the 'Oyster Islands' used by the Lenape people, the land was significantly altered by 19th-century reclamation projects. Today, the island spans 14.717 acres, with 4.17 acres created by artificial infill. This history of reclamation once sparked a separate legal battle over Ellis Island, where the Supreme Court ruled in 1998 that infill portions belonged to New Jersey, leading the two states to eventually share jurisdiction there. Liberty Island, however, remains a unique, enduring exclave of New York City.

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