Jarvis Island
Photo: pinterest.com
Jarvis Island, also known as Bunker Island, only incorporates an area 2.025 miles in length and 1.379 miles in width. It is uninhabited and was – you guessed it – acquired as part of the 1856 Guano Islands Act.
Actually, the most interesting story about Bunker Island has nothing to do with America. In the late 1800s, a New Zealand photographer by the name of Henry Winkelmann occupied a home on the island in the hopes of mining Guano. He was unsuccessful and didn’t inhabit the island for months at a time.
He did, however, have a steward watch over the residence. The steward grew mad due to the isolation and turned to drinking large quantities of gin. He committed suicide on the island and became one of the few men to have died there.
Some years later, a growing population of wild cats overtook the island. Once they died out, the island became a wildlife refuge.