Fire Island Lighthouse

History

The current lighthouse is a 168 ft stone tower that began operation in 1858 to replace the 74 ft tower originally built in 1826. The United States Coast Guard decommissioned the light in 1974. In 1982 the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society (FILPS) was formed to preserve the lighthouse. FILPS raised over $1.2 million to restore the tower and light. On May 25, 1986, the United States Coast Guard returned the Fire Island Lighthouse to an active aid to navigation. On February 22, 2006, the light became a private aid to navigation. It continues to be on the nautical charts, but is operated and maintained by the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society and not the USCG. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and a boundary increase for the national historic district occurred in 2010.

It is listed as Fire Island Light, number 695, in the USCG light lists.

When the lighthouse was built it was on the edge of Fire Island Inlet and marked the western end of Fire Island. However Fire Island has extended itself through accumulating sand so that the lighthouse is now nearly 5 mi from the western end of the island at Democrat Point.

The Archives Center at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History has a collection (#1055) of souvenir postcards of lighthouses and has digitized 272 of these and made them available online. These include postcards of Fire Island Light with links to customized nautical charts provided by National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

The lighthouse celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2008, the same year as the 100th anniversary of Robert Moses State Park.

The lighthouse was damaged in a storm by a heavy wind event in March 2023. While no structural damage occurred a "exterior facade panel separated from the building" leading to the suspension of tower tours and the launch of restoration efforts. The tower was reopened for tours by August 30, 2023, after the stabilization of the outer façade was completed by the installation of a steel cable mesh system. Further restoration efforts have been delayed because of Trump administration cuts to the National Park Service.

|File:Fire Island Light, the original Fresnel lens.jpg |The original first order Fresnel lens. |File:Fire island lighthouse.jpg |Fire Island Lighthouse.

Access

The lighthouse can be accessed by a short walk from Robert Moses State Park Field 5. It is open to the public daily. Tower tours are available for a small fee.

In popular culture

From 1970 to 1975, the lighthouse and its surrounding area were seen in the opening and closing credits sequences of the CBS television soap opera The Guiding Light.

Some of the final episode of season 1 of TV show The Following was filmed at Fire Island Lighthouse and surrounding buildings.

Men in Black II also included some filming on the island in the immediate vicinity of the lighthouse.

A 1999 Channel 4 TV series featuring Stephen Fry and called Fire Island included filming of the lighthouse.

The 2008 movie What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher featured the lighthouse as Diaz character's favorite place.

Rumors of paranormal activity

According to local legend the lighthouse is haunted. The most prominent legend is that the historic structure is haunted by the ghosts of a lighthouse keeper and his daughter. Legend has it that the lighthouse keeper's daughter got sick and died before her father could get help to arrive from the mainland. The grieving father then responded by taking his own life by hanging himself in the lighthouse's tower. Now the ghosts of father and daughter supposedly haunt the lighthouse to this day. Additionally, many also claim that the ghosts of carious people who died in shipwrecks both before and after the construction of the current lighthouse also haunt the lighthouse, including the ghost of author and women's activist Margaret Fuller. On January 7, 2022, a group of seven paranormal investigators were given permission by the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society to investigate the lighthouse. They produced several pieces of video and photographic evidence of supposed paranormal activity that was later published by Fire Island & Great South Bay News on October 20, 2024.

References

References

1. "Inventory of Historic Lighthouses".
2. {{NRISref. 2009a
3. (February 5, 2010). "WEEKLY LIST OF ACTIONS TAKEN ON PROPERTIES: 1/25/10 THROUGH 1/29/10". National Park Service.
4. [http://wlol.arlhs.com/lighthouse/USA286.html ARLHS World List of Lights]
5. {{Cite Rowlett
6. Steven Kesselman. (April 1981). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Fire Island Light Station". National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Stephen Olausen and Laura Kline. (January 2009). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York MPS Fire Island Light Station Historic District (Boundary Increase)". National Archives and Records Administration.
8. {{cite uscgll. 0
9. "Robert Moses State Park/Fire Island National Seashore". United States Geological Survey.
10. [http://amhistory.si.edu/lighthouses/object.cfm?id=63 Smithsonian lighthouse postcards]
11. (June 23, 2023). "Fire Island Lighthouse Restorations Underway » Fire Island News & Great South Bay News".
12. (August 30, 2023). "Fire Island National Seashore Reopens Lighthouse for Tower Tours » Fire Island News & Great South Bay News".
13. (August 31, 2025). "National Park Service Cuts Push Fire Island National Seashore Into Uncharted Waters » Fire Island News & Great South Bay News".
14. "Guiding Light 1973 open".
15. "The Guiding Light 1974 Open and Closing theme online video cutter com)".
16. "IMDB The Following Filming Locations". IMDb.
17. "Men In Black II film locations". movie-locations.com.
18. "IMDB Fire Island". IMDb.
19. Epstein, Skylar. (October 20, 2024). "Fire Island Lighthouse Visited by Paranormal Investigators » Fire Island News & Great South Bay News".
20. gothiccurios. (August 28, 2009). "The Ghosts of Fire Island Lighthouse".
21. jamesstewart. (October 26, 2020). "A father's anguish at the Fire Island Lighthouse".