[1][4] Winter Island Marine Park is located on the former site of the Coast Guard Air Station Salem.

In 2011, a master plan was developed for Winter Island, with help from the planning and design firm The Cecil Group of Boston and Bioengineering Group of Salem, and the City of Salem paid $45,000 in federal money.

It was first used as a fish drying and shipbuilding area by early colonial settlers, and was since the mid-17th century considered a strategic defensive point for Salem, which was by then on its way to becoming an economically important port.

[8] The sail frigate USS Essex was built at one of Enos Briggs' shipyards on the island in 1799.

[9][10] Fort Pickering Light was built in 1871, and the military use of the island was eventually transformed into a Coast Guard air station.