North Dumpling Island
) Dean Kamen's home on North Dumpling Island | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Fishers Island Sound, Southold, New York |
| Coordinates | 41°17′17″N 72°01′08″W / 41.288025°N 72.018903°W |
| Country | |
North Dumpling Island is the northernmost of two islands in Fishers Island Sound, located about 0.3 nautical miles (550 m) north of South Dumpling Island.[1] The two-acre (8,000 m²) island is privately owned by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, and is home to the North Dumpling Lighthouse. It is a mile (1.6 km) off the coast of Connecticut, south of Groton, Connecticut, but is within the territory of the town of Southold in New York State.
History
)
The island was bought by John Winthrop, son of the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and owned by the Winthrop family until 1847, when it was sold to the federal government to be the site of a lighthouse. In 1959, the beacon was automated and the lighthouse and grounds were sold to a private party. In 1986, Kamen bought it. [2]
After he was initially denied permission to build a wind turbine on the island, Kamen joked that he was seceding from the United States, and later signed a non-aggression pact with his friend, then-President George H. W. Bush.[3][4] Recently, with the help of Fritz Morgan, Chief Technology Officer of Philips Color Kinetics, the island's electrical system was converted to a combination of wind and solar power, operating independently of the regional electrical grid. This was accomplished by replacing all lighting on the island with LEDs, which resulted in a 70% reduction in in-house energy consumption.[5][6] Kamen says that solar panels on every building, a 10 kW wind turbine and a "little" Stirling engine for backup power, means that the island is carbon neutral.[7]
Though its secession is not legally recognized, Kamen refers to the island as the "Kingdom of North Dumpling", and has established a constitution, flag, currency, and national anthem, as well as a navy (consisting of a single amphibious vehicle). Kamen is said to refer to himself as "Lord Dumpling" or "Lord Dumpling II". In addition to North Dumpling Lighthouse, the island features a replica of Stonehenge.[3][4]
References
- ^ National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (April 2006), Fisher's Island Sound (28th ed.) Graphic
- ^ Lighthouse Friends history of N. Dumpling Island
- ^ a b Ravo, Nick (1988-04-22). "From L.I. Sound, A New Nation Asserts Itself". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-27. "No man is an Island, John Donne wrote. Not even Dean Kamen, sole owner and resident of this rocky three-acre freckle in Long Island Sound, three miles off Noank, Conn. I am an empire! he boasts. Mr. Kamen, a 36-year-old bachelor and millionaire inventor who prefers to be called Lord Dumpling, has fulfilled one of life's larger fantasies. For $2.5 million, he has bought an island - complete with mansion, lighthouse and a copy of Stonehenge - and seceded from the world around him, or so he likes to believe."
- ^ a b "How Dean Kamen's Magical Water Machine Could Save the World". Esquire. Retrieved 2009-01-27. "He's also Lord Dumpling, leader of the Empire of North Dumpling. Dumpie to his friends. ... He has seceded from the United States, you see, having notified the president himself, and Kamen's vision of better living through technology is under assault from the usual gaggle of small minds."
- ^ Taub, Eric A. (January 26, 2009). "LEDs to the Rescue? Not So Fast". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-27. "LED lamps are already used in street lights, office buildings and, less frequently, homes. The inventor Dean Kamen recently lighted an island and the structures on it solely with LED products."
- ^ Taub, Eric A. (December 8, 2008). "Dean Kamen’s ‘LED Nation’". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ Harris, Mark (22 July 2009). "Segway Inventor on future technology". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-09-18.