The Fire Island Lighthouse, located on the western extremity of Fire Island, a barrier island off the southern shore of Long Island, is a noticeable landmark on the Great South Bay in southern Suffolk County, New York. The lighthouse may be found in Fire Island National Seashore, just east of Robert Moses State Park. It is part of the Fire Island Light Station, which also includes the lighthouse, keeper’s quarters, and the lens structure, which houses the original first-order Fresnel lens as well as a boathouse.
At the turn of the century, the Fire Island Lighthouse was an essential marker for transatlantic ships entering New York Harbor. The Fire Island Light was many European immigrants’ first sight of land when they arrived in America.
In 1826, the first lighthouse on Fire Island was completed. It was a 74-foot-high octagonal pyramid fashioned of Connecticut River blue split stone that was cream-colored. The tower was constructed at the inlet at the far end of the island. Due to its lack of height, this tower was ineffective. It was nearly completely demolished, and the stone was used to construct the current lighthouse’s terrace. The old lighthouse is now reduced to a circular ring of bricks and stone.
The current lighthouse, a 180-foot stone tower, was built in 1858. The light was decommissioned by the US Coast Guard in 1974. The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society was founded in 1982 with the goal of preserving the lighthouse. To restore the tower and light, FILPS raised almost $1.2 million. On May 25, 1986, the US Coast Guard reactivated the Fire Island Lighthouse as a navigational aid. The light was designated as a private navigational aid on February 22, 2006. Although it remains on nautical charts, the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society, not the USCG, operates and maintains it. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1981, the lighthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2010, the national historic district’s boundaries were expanded. The lighthouse was built on the edge of Fire Island Inlet, marking the island’s westernmost point. However, due to sand accumulation, Fire Island has grown to the point that the lighthouse is now about five miles (8.0 km) from the island’s western terminus at Democrat Point. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s Archives Center contains a collection of lighthouse souvenir postcards, of which 272 have been digitized and made available online. Fire Island Light postcards with links to customized nautical charts offered by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration are among them.
In 2008, the lighthouse turned 150 years old, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of Robert Moses State Park. The lighthouse and its surroundings were used in the CBS television soap opera The Guiding Light’s opening and closing credits sequences from 1970 to 1975. Some of the filmings for Men in Black II took place on the island, near the lighthouse. Cameron Diaz’s favorite place was featured in the 2008 film “What Happens in Vegas,” starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.
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