The world’s smallest inhabited island is located in New York State, but it’s just a very short distance from the Canadian border.
This tiny island is basically just a rock sticking up out the St. Lawrence River between New York and Ontario.
According to Wikipedia (and multiple other sources), this tiny 3,300 square foot island has just enough room for a small cottage, one tree and a pair of deck chairs!
The current owners purchased the island in the 1950s and promptly renamed it to Just Enough Room Island, and that name certainly appears to suit it quite well.
According to this article in the New York Post, Just Enough Room Island is about half the size of Bishop Rock, the tiny British island that was once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s smallest inhabited island.
Bishop Rock lost that title in 1982 after the island’s lighthouse became automated, prompting the attendant who was living there to leave.
According to Bishop Rock’s Wikipedia page , the Guinness Book of World Records still has Bishop Rock listed as the world’s smallest island that has a building on it.
I don’t understand why Guinness is still recognizing Bishop Rock in that manner since Just Enough Room Island also has a building on it, and it’s quite a bit smaller.
There are other discrepancies between the various stories as well, but that’s a topic for another day.
The short video below discusses “Just Enough Room Island” and the thousands of other small islands in the “Thousand Islands” region. It’s quite interesting so I recommend that you check it out!
Note: As always, you can watch the video at full screen by clicking the “square” icon in the lower right-hand corner of the video.