Nordstrand (Gemeinde)

is a peninsula and former island in North Frisia on the North Sea coast of Germany. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. Its area is 50 km², and its population is 2,300. Nordstrand has two municipalities, Nordstrand and smaller Elisabeth-Sophien-Koog, which are part of the Amt Nordsee-Treene.In medieval times, Nordstrand was a part of the larger island of Strand which was torn into pieces in a disastrous storm tide in 1634. Over 6,000 people drowned. Before 1634, the area of the island was about. Other remnants of Strand are Pellworm and the Halligen islets.Nordstrand is accessible by road over a causeway which connects to the mainland and was built in 1936. In 1987, the polder Beltringharder Koog was completed, turning the former island into a peninsula.North American emigrants who used it as a surnameThe original Nordstrand island is thought to be the ancestral homeland for the North American surname "van Nostrand" . Two brothers emigrated from here to what is present day New York, USA in 1637 and 1638 after the flood. One of the three granite panels of the Canadian van Nostrand monument, located in York Mill's Cemetery, Toronto points to Nordstrand Island.