Manresa

Whenever I give a public presentation about shipwrecks, I refer to our seafloor containing "layers of history." Vessels piloted by Indigenous peoples, European colonists, and Americans, as part of transportation, energy, and industrial sectors - all of these vessels rest on our seafloor, representing centuries of our shared history as a seafaring species. 

On Manresa Island, the "layers of history" are literal and obvious. The 23-acre island was used as a private retreat, first by an individual and then by a Jesuit society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1950, a coal-fired power plant was built on the island, which distributed ash into the surrounding salt marsh and expanded the island's size to 125 acres. The power plant switched from coal to oil in the 1970s, then stopped producing power in 2013. Nowadays, a birch forest covers the area where coal ash filled in the salt marsh. If you take a sediment core on Manresa Island - as terrestrial researchers have done - you will see layers of forest, particulates from oil burning, coal-based fly ash, and finally marsh plants beneath. Those layers represent the eras that Manresa Island has experienced throughout its history. 

Now, Manresa Island is starting a new era. The land was purchased in 2025 by a philanthropic couple with plans to remediate it. Their vision is to convert the 125-acre Manresa Wilds into a public park, recreational center, outdoor classroom, and research base. To achieve this vision, they have established partnerships, including with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 

A map I made of targets we want to investigate - there is
plenty of work to do!

It is an honor to be part of such an ambitious and environmentally impactful project. As Manresa Island undergoes remediation, WHOI researchers will partner with the philanthropists to build up research facilities and conduct scientific work in the surrounding ocean ecosystems. I proposed to explore and document the shipwrecks in Long Island Sound, applying my team's interdisciplinary framework of Maritime Heritage Ecology to the layers of history immediately offshore. The Manresa remediation project is in very early days, and the research partnership is embryonic. Even so, I'm incredibly excited to see how our partnership will take shape and conduct impactful research in Long Island Sound!

The room in the power plant that I think could make a great
telepresence hub.

Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Norwalk, CT and participate in a press event announcing the launch of the education and research programs at Manresa Wilds. It was an incredible trip. While the WHOI team was in town, we toured Manresa Island, including its abandoned power plant. Manresa staff encouraged us to think big - as we entered each room, the discussion focused on "What could this space become?" Some ideas were obvious: the old water quality lab would require only minor updating to become a useful dry lab for WHOI's scientific work. The large turbine hall could become a concert hall or a movie theater. Other conversions required more imagination: climbing into the power plant's old turbines felt a bit like entering a submarine, so perhaps they could be converted into an educational exhibit about deep-ocean research. As our group stepped into the power plant's control room, with its countless knobs, gauges, and screens, I was reminded of an ROV control van on a ship. I suggested to our hosts that it could be converted into a telepresence hub, where members of the public could gather to watch live video from research expeditions far offshore. They nodded in thoughtful agreement. 

Manresa Island has a lot of potential. Slowly, the remediation project is progressing, and a 28-acre section including the birch forest should be open to the public next year. I am eager to see how the research program will take shape. In the next several years, I look forward to sharing our discoveries from the shipwrecks of Long Island Sound!