4. There was a “czar of Plumb Beach”
Plumb Beach is a hidden beach near Gerritsen Beach, partly visible from the southern end of Gerritsen Avenue. The small beach attracts kiteboarding enthusiasts due to a southerly sea breeze. Despite heavy beach erosion, the beach is also a habitat for horseshoe crabs every May and June. The beach was originally a separate island until the nearby Hog Creek was filled in with the creation of the Belt Parkway. It is likely the beach’s name derives from when sailors stopped on the island and ate native beach plums. Plumb Beach was a popular destination around the turn of the 20th century when a ferry connected it to Sheepshead Bay, Barren Island, and Breezy Point.
Even before the ferry, the federal government purchased part of the island to use as a mortar battery, which quickly became a home for squatters. While the government tried to figure out what to do with the island in 1907, then-Secretary of War William Howard Taft agreed to lease the island to Judge Winfield S. Overton. Though, Overton took things a little too far. He declared himself the island’s “czar” and created his own police force. He also hired two local Army companies to evict squatters from the island. Best of all, he believed he was above New York State laws. He held “carnivals” with boxing matches, which at the time were illegal, pulling in large crowds to watch members of the “United States Military Athletic and Sporting Club.” By January 1909, the Department of War overturned the lease, and Overton was removed from the island, though not for long. Frank Dotzler, the island’s new “mayor,” also ruled the island with an iron fist before word spread that Overton was to return in May. Local infantry units were sent to stop Overton’s “invasion” of Plumb Island successfully.