Greenwich · US

Great Captain Island

Great Captain Island is a 17.2-acre town-owned island sitting about a mile off Greenwich, Connecticut, in the western Long Island Sound. A short ferry hop or a private boat ride brings you to a crescent beach, a bird sanctuary, woodland trails and—rising above a scatter of glacial boulders—the handsome 1868 granite lighthouse that has become the island's signature landmark. The appeal is its compactness and variety: in a single afternoon you can swim, picnic, hike the shoreline paths, watch nesting egrets and herons, and stand beside a National Register-listed light station, all within a few acres and with the Sound stretching out to the horizon.