Nicollet Island lies in the middle of the Mississippi River in central Minneapolis. It’s named after Joseph Nicollet, a cartographer who mapped the Upper Mississippi in the 1830s.
Spent a couple of hours walking around the island, although an hour is probably plenty for most tourists. Sometimes there are events going on at the Nicollet Island Pavillon. But since I was here during mid-afternoon on a weekday, there wasn’t going on at the time.
The views of downtown Minneapolis are spectacular. For those who enjoy architecture, the heritage homes are also worth checking out as is the private Catholic Preparatory School.
I've been to Nikumaroro six times, and am TIGHAR's senior archaeologist. Tripbucket's description of the island is accurate enough, but like many short media accounts its treatment of the Earhart connection reduces our research to a sort of personality contest between TIGHAR executive director, Ric Gillespie and other Earhart researchers. We actually have some pretty compelling evidence, and are organizing a visit to the island to do more targeted research in 2017. For information and links, see www.niku2017.com.