While Wade has pictured several small islands, the most prominent island east of Van Wies point is Bear Island. It was also called Beerin or Bearn Island. Edgar Mayhew Bacon in The Hudson From Ocean to Source says that Bear island "enjoys the distinction of being the birthplace of the first white child born to any of the settlers upon the Hudson, and was also a fortified place that was so great a bone of contention between the powers of the lower and those of the upper river. "