Plum Island is an 840-acre island off about two miles off of the coast of Suffolk, the easternmost section of Long Island, New York. Known as “Manittuwond” by the original Native American inhabitants, the island was called “Plum Island” by Dutch settlers due to the beach plums that grew in abundance all along its shores. The island, home to an important lighthouse, was transferred from private ownership to the United States government in 1899 because of its strategic location in the Atlantic Ocean, at the entrance of the Long Island Sound. The U.S. government built a fort on the island, and the site became part of the anti-submarine screen that was put in place to defend the east coast during World War I and World War II.