Rat Island is not only the smallest, but the only privately owned island in New York City. Sitting in City Island Harbor in the Bronx, at high tide this tiny piece of land is one acre large. At low tide the island gains another acre and a half. Today the island is owned by Alex Schibli, a native of Switzerland who fell in love with New York City and its waters in the 1960s. It is rumored to have gotten its name from the belief that convicts escaping a nearby prison would use the island as a resting stop on their swim towards freedom. No one lives on the island and there are no structures, but there is a statue of William Tell. Tying his roots to his New York island, Schibli commissioned the statue of the fourteenth century Swiss liberation fighter from a Swiss artist. Though Schibli’s family and friends said he was crazy for buying the island, but he doesn’t think it’s any crazier than buying a boat, and says “lots of people have boats, but I have an island.”