6 Fire Island

The Tallest Lighthouse on Long Island

by Amanda Cruz
 

In 1964, Fire Island was named a National Seashore. However, for more than a hundred years before this, the seashore had been significant to navigators and earlier towns and settlements.
This shore used to be connected to neighboring islands, but through years of natural events, it was sometimes disconnected and reconnected through inlets and man-made adjustments. Today, it is separated from the neighboring Westhampton Beach Island by the Moriches Inlet.

 

In 1826, the first Fire Island Lighthouse was built. It was 90 feet tall, and its visibility reached about 10-14 miles offshore. This picture is an etching of the original lighthouse, no pictures exist of it.
 

In 1858, the current lighthouse was built. The original one was torn down due to not being in an ideal location and not being the highest point on the island. The current lighthouse reused the materials from the old lighthouse and more materials were added to make it taller. This picture is of the spiral steps to get to the top, totaling 182 steps to get up the 168 foot tall lighthouse, who’s light can be seen from 20 miles away.
 

The top of the lighthouse provides a 360 degree view of Fire Island and the surrounding areas. On a clear day, the New York City skyline can be seen from the top. Other locations on Long Island can be spotted as well, and we even spotted some of the many deer on the island from the top!

Daytime and Nighttime Characteristics of the Fire Island Lighthouse
by Abbie Belknap

Where are we?

In the 17th and 18th centuries, being a mariner was one of the most popular jobs. It was a necessity to maintain trade all over the world. But have you ever thought about how hard it would have been to know where you were when traversing across the entire Atlantic ocean? How would you be able to tell where along the coast you were? Well, that's where lighthouses come in. Lighthouses were used more than just for protection from crashing into the shore. They also have specific characteristics to differentiate between lighthouses.
 

The Fire Island Lighthouse is a great example of these characteristics. Constructed in 1857, the lighthouse has a tapered shape with four white and black stripes. This is called the lighthouse's daytime characteristics. During the day, when there were clear skies, ships could use this characteristic to determine where along the coast they were. This design could also help it be seen from far away.

At night, or during bouts of fog, the daytime characteristics cannot be seen. So, boats look for the lights flashing from the top of the lighthouses to gauge where they are in relation to the shore and along the coast. But, if every lighthouse has the same flashing light, how do you know which one is which? Well, the frequency of flashing is used to differentiate between them. Some flash every 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or even every minute. The Fire Island lighthouse flashes every 7 seconds. These are called the night-time characteristics. This gives the sailors the ability to check their navigation charts and match up the frequencies to decide what lighthouse it is. What allows for the lighthouse's ability to create this rhythmic flashing pattern is a fresnel lens.
 

This photo depicts the fresnel lens that was used in the original Fire Island Lighthouse. This shape and structure allow the light to be reflected and refracted over long distances. The glass allows the light to be focused into a strong beam. The entire structure would spin, allowing the lighthouse to generate its unique night-time characteristics.

Fire Island's Brightest Piece of History: The Fresnel Lens

by James Callaghan

Fire Island has had quite a history, with many changes, restorations, and updates all throughout. One piece of that history that is worth noting is the Fresnel Lens. This structure was an intricately built lens system that was used in the second version of the Fire Island Lighthouse from the lighthouse’s construction in 1858 until it was electrified in 1933. After its decommissioning, the lens was showcased in the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia from 1939 to 2000. After this, in 2001, it was decided that the lens would be transferred back to Fire Island. After the construction of the Fresnel Lens building in 2011, the lens was brought back to Fire Island permanently and has been presented for visitors to observe and learn about.

 

These lenses were designed by French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel and had large, circularly ridged panes for the central lenses as well as curved, slatted lenses for the upper and lower parts of the structure as seen in the pictures above. The design of each piece was focused on efficiently being able to refract, reflect, and magnify the light that was put through so it could cast the light much further than the whale oil burning lamps of that time could have been cast on their own. These lenses were carefully designed and held in place by a brass framing. It also had a gear system beneath it in order to to be able to rotate as it needed to in order to properly signal incoming ships as to where they were.

Works cited
U.S. Department of the Interior. (n.d.). History of the 1858 Fire Island Lighthouse 1st order fresnel lens. National Parks Service. Retrieved September 30, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/fiis/learn/historyculture/fresnel-lens-history.htm

Cosmopolitan Deer

by Sydney Hennessy
  

Pictured above is one adult, female deer and her two babies on the northern beach of Fire Island. Deers were not originally native to this island, but due to human encroachment on the deer’s native habitat in Long Island, the deer were forced to swim across Great South Bay to Fire Island. I thought it was very disappointing to hear the mass effect humans had on deer.
 
The main danger to deers on ‘mainland’ were cars. When they migrated to Fire Island, this danger mostly disappeared. The copious amount of deers as a result became an environmental hazard. Due to the deer’s prominent source of food, vegetation, Fire Island became under threat of having its dunes disappear. Vegetation and grass serves as a stabilizing force for the dunes, without which the sand and the sediment has nothing to stick to and will wash or blow away. These dunes are important protection from waves and without them, Fire Island has a chance of drastically changing.

Another problem that came with a growing deer population, was a growing tick population. Ticks in Long Island have the potential to carry Lyme Disease and West Nile Disease, both able to be passed onto humans. Lyme Disease has the potential to be life threatening and cases increased when deers increased on Fire Island. Although not many live on Fire Island, it is a huge destination spot for tourists. Lyme disease became an unfortunate reality for many who visited.
 

This picture shows one of the stations set up around Fire Island to help counteract the problems discussed above. Inside the green container, there is food for the deer. When the deer reach for the food, their head must go into between the yellow rollers. The rollers are covered in a pesticide meant to target ticks. This is a threefold solution. The deers no longer have to ravage the dune vegetation due to the supplemental food supply, and pesticide kills off ticks that may have carried Lyme Diseases. Included in the food is birth control, so that when the deers ate it, they could not have children. This really helped curb the deer population.
 

This is Fire Island now. As seen the vegetation is flourishing and the dunes appear relatively steady. The deer solution worked tremendously in helping the Fire Island habitats stabilize. It seems as though the main issue with the deers now is the main reason why they migrated to Fire Island in the first place: cars. Although some of the island prohibits cars, part of it does not and cars remain the “main predator” of deers, off of “mainland” and on it.

The 17 Communities of Fire Island
by Mary Lares

Fire Island is one of ten nationally recognized seashores. This title means that the shoreline area is protected and maintained by the federal government. Federally, a 26-mile section of this island is considered protected land. Typically, with national park areas such as this, communities are not allowed to be built on the land. However, in this case, there are a total of seventeen different communities built on Fire Island. So, many may wonder, how is it that these communities allowed to exist on this federal park land? The truth is rather plain in that the communities were already established when the seashore was granted its title of National Seashore. When the various communities settled the area, it was in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. However, the title was given to the seashore in 1964: well after the people were settled in the area. Therefore, the continued existence of these communities was effectively grandfathered in as a condition with the government.

Shockingly, between the seventeen total communities upon the island, there is less than 400 people who live there year-round. During the school year, there are so few children that there is one singular schoolhouse for all grades prior to high school. For high school, the kids catch a bus to the mainland to attend school there. During the summer is when the island makes most of its income through summer seasonal tourism. Many well-off folks from cities and the mainland would often travel to the idyllic, natural shoreline as a reprieve from the stresses from their regular 9-to-5 lives. Seeing an area so undominated by man was seen as exotic and refreshing. Many of the inhabitants of Fire Island are those seasonal visitors and workers.

Of the communities on the island, one that stands out and most inhabits the spirit of freedom and expression that many tourists of the island seek out is Cherry Grove. Cherry Grove is one of the biggest and most public gay communities. It drew its crowd mostly from New York City among the crowds of artists and thespians. By 1920, this particular community was growing in popularity among the LGBTQ. Even today, this community is thriving and, in fact, holds of the most impressive drag shows around for miles in the summer called the mermaid parade. In recent years, Cherry Grove has also been awarded many historical site dedications including having the oldest gay theater in the United States. Cherry Grove is only one of the amazing seventeen communities on this island that each holds its own incredible history.

The citizens of this island also clearly value and understand the importance of the land that they live on. One simple example of this dedication to their homes can be seen by looking back at 2010. In 2010, there was a proposition to restore the dunes of Fire Island. In the restoration of these dunes, they would be providing additional protection to the structure of the island as well as to the inhabitants who live there. By saving the integrity of the island, they would also be giving more protection to the mainland, as Fire Island is actually one of five barrier islands around Long Island. Many mainlanders would likely not vote in favor of this proposed project. Yes, it seems an obvious good thing but, by voting yes, there would be a whopping 17% increase in taxes. However, those that lived on the island value their land and 2/3 of the population voted in favor of this proposal. So, the island underwent a big change and the dunes were officially finished and restored in the summer of 2012. By October of that same year, Hurricane Sandy hit the island. If it were not for the care that these inhabitants had for the island, many communities would have been completely wiped off the map and obliterated. It is clear that those that live on Fire Island in the seventeen existing communities have a great care for their home.

Sources:
https://www.fireislandassociation.org/about-our-towns/
https://www.nps.gov/fiis/index.htm