Out in the Susquehanna River between Harrisburg and Wormleysburg, City Island stretches a mile long under your feet. Right where you stand the island is used mainly for leisure and sports activities, but its story runs much deeper than a day of recreation. You can imagine seasons past: the island contains archaeological remains of the Susquehannocks and the Iroquois tribes, who once established seasonal settlements here.
Its names tell a history too — Turkey Island, Maclay's Island, Forster's Island and Hargast Island — each name a layer of memory. For much of Harrisburg’s early development the island was reachable only by boat or by fording low waters, until 1817 when the Camelback Bridge was completed on the site of today’s Market Street Bridge. In wartime the island took on another role: Camp Necessity was formed here in 1863 for Union troops during the Gettysburg campaign, and in 1865 Camp Keystone was set up when Camp Curtin overflowed with returning soldiers.
Notice the easy rhythms of play and passage — people crossing by the Market Street Bridge, or from this side, by the Walnut Street Bridge — and follow that flow to the river and those bridges.