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Fire Island

From Wikipedia, in a visual modern way
For other places with the same name and other uses, see Fire Island (disambiguation).
Fire Island parallels the South Shore of Long Island.
Fire Island parallels the South Shore of Long Island.

Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York.

Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Long Beach Barrier Island, Jones Beach Island, and Westhampton Island, since the straits that separate these islands are ephemeral. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two islands are about 31 miles (50 km) long and vary between 520 and 1,310 feet (160 and 400 m) wide. The land area of Fire Island is 9.6 square miles (24.9 km2).[1]

Fire Island is part of Suffolk County. It lies within the towns of Babylon, Islip, and Brookhaven, containing two villages and a number of hamlets. All parts of the island not within village limits are part of the Fire Island census-designated place (CDP), which had a permanent population of 292 at the 2010 census,[2] though that expands to thousands of residents and tourists during the summer months.

Discover more about Fire Island related topics

South Shore (Long Island)

South Shore (Long Island)

The South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York, is the area along Long Island's Atlantic Ocean shoreline.

Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th-most populous in the world. The island begins at New York Harbor approximately 0.35 miles (0.56 km) east of Manhattan Island and extends eastward about 118 miles (190 km) into the Atlantic Ocean, with a maximum north-to-south width of 23 miles (37 km) between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic coast. With a land area of 1,401 square miles (3,630 km2), Long Island is the 11th-largest island in the United States, the largest island in the contiguous United States, and the 149th-largest island in the world.

U.S. state

U.S. state

In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sovereignty with the federal government. Due to this shared sovereignty, Americans are citizens both of the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons restricted by certain types of court orders.

Long Beach Barrier Island

Long Beach Barrier Island

Long Beach is one of the outer barrier islands off the south coast of Long Island, New York, United States. Long Beach is the westernmost of these barrier islands, fronting on Reynolds Channel to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

Jones Beach Island

Jones Beach Island

Jones Beach Island is one of the outer barrier islands off the southern coast of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York.

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spanning 1,150 miles (1,850 km). The storm inflicted nearly $70 billion in damage and killed 233 people across eight countries from the Caribbean to Canada. The eighteenth named storm, tenth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, Sandy was a Category 3 storm at its peak intensity when it made landfall in Cuba, though most of the damage it caused was after it became a Category 1-equivalent extratropical cyclone off the coast of the Northeastern United States.

Suffolk County, New York

Suffolk County, New York

Suffolk County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,525,920 making it the fourth-most populous county in the State of New York, and the most populous excluding the five counties of New York City. Its county seat is Riverhead, though most county offices are in Hauppauge. The county was named after the county of Suffolk in England, from where its earliest European settlers came.

Babylon, New York

Babylon, New York

The Town of Babylon is one of ten towns in Suffolk County, New York, United States. Its population was 218,223 as of the 2020 census. Parts of Jones Beach Island, Captree Island and Fire Island are in the southernmost part of the town. It borders Nassau County to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. At its westernmost point, it is about 20 miles (32 km) from New York City at the Queens border, and about 30 miles (48 km) from Manhattan. The village of Babylon is also within the town.

Islip, New York

Islip, New York

Islip is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state.

Brookhaven, New York

Brookhaven, New York

The Town of Brookhaven is the most populous of the ten towns of Suffolk County, New York, United States. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is located approximately 50 miles from Manhattan. It is the largest of the state of New York's 932 towns by area, and the second most populous after the Town of Hempstead.

Census-designated place

Census-designated place

A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.

2010 United States census

2010 United States census

The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving to spot-check randomly selected neighborhoods and communities. As part of a drive to increase the count's accuracy, 635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, a 9.7% increase from the 2000 census. This was the first census in which all states recorded a population of over half a million people as well as the first in which all 100 largest cities recorded populations of over 200,000.

History

Fire Island Lighthouse, east of Robert Moses field 5
Fire Island Lighthouse, east of Robert Moses field 5

Etymology

The origin of Fire Island's name is not certain. It is believed its Native American name was Sictem Hackey, which translated to "Land of the Secatogues". The Secatogues were a tribe in the area of the current town of Islip. It was part of what was also called the "Seal Islands".[3]

The name of Fire Island first appeared on a deed in 1789.[4]

Historian Richard Bayles suggested that the name derives from a misinterpretation or corruption of the Dutch word vijf ('five'), or in another version vier ('four'), referring to the number of islands near the Fire Island inlet,[5] a view echoed by Robert Caro, who suggest in The Power Broker that the island was named to reflect four inlets which have since disappeared.[6] At times histories have referred to it in the plural, as "Fire Islands", because of the inlet breaks.

Other versions say the island derived its name from fires built on the sea's edge by Native Americans or by pirates to lure unsuspecting ships into the sandbars. Some say it is how portions of the island look to be on fire from sea in autumn. Yet another version says it comes from the rash caused by poison ivy on the island.[7]

While the western portion of the island was referred to as Fire Island for many years, the eastern portion was referred to as Great South Beach until 1920, when widespread development caused the whole land mass to be called Fire Island.[4]

Settlement

The Fire Island National Seashore during Spring
The Fire Island National Seashore during Spring

Indigenous Native Americans lived on what are known today as Long Island and Fire Island for many centuries before Europeans arrived. There exists a myth that the islands were occupied by "thirteen tribes" "neatly divided into thirteen tribal units, beginning with the Canarsie who lived in present-day Brooklyn and ending with the Montauk on the far eastern end of the island." Modern ethnographic research indicates, however, that before the European invasion, Long Island and Fire Island were occupied by "indigenous groups [...] organized into village systems with varying levels of social complexity. They lived in small communities that were connected in an intricate web of kinship relations [...] there were probably no native peoples living in tribal systems on Long Island until after the Europeans arrived. [...] The communities appear to have been divided into two general culture areas that overlapped in the area known today as the Hempstead Plains [...]. The western groups spoke the Delaware-Munsee dialect of Algonquian and shared cultural characteristics such as the longhouse system of social organization with their brethren in what is now New Jersey and Delaware. The linguistic affiliation of the eastern groups is less well understood [...] Goddard [...] concluded that the languages here are related to the southern New England Algonquian dialects, but he could only speculate on the nature of these relationships [...]. Working with a few brief vocabulary lists of Montauk and Unquachog, he suggested that the Montauk might be related to Mohegan-Pequot and the Unquachog might possibly be grouped with the Quiripi of western Connecticut. The information on the Shinnecock was too sparse for any determination [...] The most common pattern of indigenous life on Long Island prior to the intervention of the whites was the autonomous village linked by kinship to its neighbors."[8]

"Most of the 'tribal' names with which we are now familiar do not appear to have been recognized by either the first European observers or by the original inhabitants until the process of land purchases began after the first settlements were established. We simply do not know what these people called themselves, but all the ethnographic data on North American Indian cultures suggest that they identified themselves in terms of lineage and clan membership. [...] The English and Dutch were frustrated by this lack of structure because it made land purchase so difficult. Deeds, according to the European concept of property, had to be signed by identifiable owners with authority to sell and have specific boundaries on a map. The relatively amorphous leadership structure of the Long Island communities, the imprecise delineation of hunting ground boundaries, and their view of the land as a living entity to be used rather than owned made conventional European real estate deals nearly impossible to negotiate. The surviving primary records suggest that the Dutch and English remedied this situation by pressing cooperative local sachems to establish a more structured political base in their communities and to define their communities as "tribes" with specific boundaries [...] The Montauk, under the leadership of Wyandanch in the mid-seventeenth century, and the Matinnecock, under the sachems Suscaneman and Tackapousha, do appear to have developed rather tenuous coalitions as a result of their contact with the English settlers."[9]

"An early example of [European] intervention into Native American political institutions is a 1664 agreement wherein the East Hampton and Southampton officials appointed a sunk squaw named Quashawam to govern both the Shinnecock and the Montauk."[8]

  • William "Tangier" Smith held title to the entire island in the 17th century, under a royal patent from Thomas Dongan. The remnants of Smith's Manor of St. George are open to the public in Shirley, New York. "On May 25, 1691 Col. William "Tangier" Smith purchased from the Indian, John Mayhew the enormous acreage, later to be known as the Manor of St. George. He then set aside 175 acres of the land occupied by the Unkechaug Indians on the west side of the Mastic (Forge) River at Poosepatuck Creek to be theirs for the annual rent of two ears of corn. The Poosepatuck Indian Reservation is still in existence today, however it has shrunk to 55 acres due to unscrupulous land dealings by early officials."[10]
  • The first large house was built in 1795 in Cherry Grove by Jeremiah Smith. Smith was said to have lured ships to their doom and killed the crews.[11][12]
  • In the early 19th century when slavery in New York was still legal, slave runners built stockades on the island by the Fire Island Inlet.
  • The first Fire Island Lighthouse was built in 1825 and was replaced by the current lighthouse in 1858.
  • In 1855, David S. S. Sammis bought 120 acres (0.49 km2) near the Fire Island Lighthouse and built the Surf Hotel at what today is Kismet. Sammis operated the hotel until 1892, when the state took it over. In 1908, it became the first state park on Long Island.
  • In 1868, Archer and Elizabeth Perkinson bought the land around Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines. They built a hotel in 1880.
  • In 1887, the Coast Guard established 11 staffed lifesaving stations on the island.
  • In 1892, troops were called out to suppress a potential riot at Democrat Point over a cholera panic.[13]
  • In 1908, Ocean Beach was established, followed by Saltaire in 1910.
  • In 1921, the Perkinsons sold the land around Cherry Grove in small lots. Bungalows from the newly closed Camp Upton in Yaphank were ferried over the Great South Bay to build the new community. Duffy's Hotel was built in 1930.
  • The Great Hurricane of 1938 devastated much of the island and made it appear undesirable to many. However, Duffy's Hotel remained relatively undamaged. According to legend, the gay population began to concentrate in Cherry Grove at Duffy's Hotel with Christopher Isherwood and W. H. Auden dressed as Dionysus and Ganymede and carried aloft on a gilded litter by a group of singing followers.[14] The gay influence was continued in the 1960s when male model John B. Whyte developed Fire Island Pines. The Pines currently has some of the most expensive property on the island and accounts for two-thirds of the island's swimming pools.[15]
  • In 1964, Robert Moses built the Captree Causeway to the western end of the island.[16] Opponents, fearing that this was the beginning of plans for the continuation of Ocean Parkway, which would have run down the middle of the island, organized and eventually stopped the parkway.
  • In September 1964, Lyndon Johnson signed a bill creating Fire Island National Seashore.

As gay village

The hamlets of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines together have constituted a gay village since the mid-20th century.[17] The party-filled culture of the pre-HIV/AIDS 1970s is portrayed in Andrew Holleran's 1978 novel Dancer from the Dance. The Botel (today the Grove Hotel) was gay-friendly and ran popular afternoon "tea dances". Cherry Grove calls itself "America’s First Gay and Lesbian Town". Fire Island has "an iconic gay scene"[18] and the Grove Hotel is the only hotel in New York State that prohibits those under 21 on the premises; this is legal because the hotel's entrance is through a bar.[19]

2009: Beach renourishment

A 2009 beach renourishment program was credited with saving the island from the full effects of Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

In the winter and spring of 2009, a beach renourishment project was undertaken on Fire Island, with the cooperation of the National Park Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Towns of Brookhaven and Islip, and Fire Island residents. The renourishment program involved dredging sand from an offshore borrow area, pumping it onto the beach and shaping the sand into an approved beach face and dune template in front of the communities of Corneille Estates, Davis Park, Dunewood, Fair Harbor, Fire Island Pines, Fire Island Summer Club, Lonelyville, Ocean Bay Park, Ocean Beach, Saltaire, and Seaview. Fire Islanders agreed to a significant property tax increase to help pay for the project, which was estimated to cost between $23 and $25 million ($6,020 per housing unit), including the cost of environmental monitoring, and was expected to add 1,400,000 cubic meters (1,800,000 cubic yards) of sand in front of the participating communities. The Towns of Brookhaven and Islip, in which the communities are located, issued bonds to pay for the project, backed by the new taxes levied by community Erosion Control Taxing Districts.

2012: Hurricane Sandy

The island was heavily damaged in the high tides associated with Hurricane Sandy in 2012, including three breaches around Smith Point County Park on the sparsely populated eastern end of the island. The biggest breach (and politically most difficult one to deal with because it is in a wilderness area) is at Old Inlet in the Otis Pike Wilderness Area just west of Smith Point County Park. Old Inlet is at the site of previous breaches (which have come and gone on their own) and was 108 feet wide after the storm on the south end and 1,171 feet on February 28, 2013.[20] Officials have been debating whether to close the breach and let nature take its course, as it has been flushing out the Great South Bay and improving water quality. However, residents of the bay front communities noted increased flooding after the storm. This flooding was later found to be the result of several nor'easters and unrelated to the breaches.[21] As of 2018, the breach remained open.[22] Officials have moved to close the other two breaches which are on either side of Moriches Inlet—one in Cupsogue County Park and the other being in Smith Point County Park.[23][24][25]

Reports indicated that 80 percent of the homes, particularly those on the east end, were flooded, and 90 homes were completely destroyed.[26] The storm also tore away about 75 feet of the dune coastline. But Fire Island was not hit as hard as other areas, with most of the 4,500 homes on the island surviving even if damaged, and significant home reconstruction has taken place. Officials credited the dune replenishment program with helping to spare the island.[27]

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Fire Island Lighthouse

Fire Island Lighthouse

The Fire Island Lighthouse is a visible landmark on the Great South Bay, in southern Suffolk County, New York on the western end of Fire Island, a barrier island off the southern coast of Long Island. The lighthouse is located within Fire Island National Seashore and just to the east of Robert Moses State Park. It is part of the Fire Island Light Station which contains the light, keepers quarters, the lens building containing the original first-order Fresnel lens, and a boat house.

Islip, New York

Islip, New York

Islip is a town in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the south shore of Long Island. The population was 335,543 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous city or town in the state.

Dutch language

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. Afrikaans is a separate but somewhat mutually intelligible daughter language spoken, to some degree, by at least 16 million people, mainly in South Africa and Namibia, evolving from the Cape Dutch dialects of Southern Africa. The dialects used in Belgium and in Suriname, meanwhile, are all guided by the Dutch Language Union.

Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th-most populous in the world. The island begins at New York Harbor approximately 0.35 miles (0.56 km) east of Manhattan Island and extends eastward about 118 miles (190 km) into the Atlantic Ocean, with a maximum north-to-south width of 23 miles (37 km) between Long Island Sound and the Atlantic coast. With a land area of 1,401 square miles (3,630 km2), Long Island is the 11th-largest island in the United States, the largest island in the contiguous United States, and the 149th-largest island in the world.

Canarsee

Canarsee

The Canarsee were a band of Munsee-speaking Lenape who inhabited the westernmost end of Long Island at the time the Dutch colonized New Amsterdam in the 1620s and 1630s.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behind New York County (Manhattan). Brooklyn is also New York City's most populous borough, with 2,736,074 residents in 2020.

Montaukett

Montaukett

The Montaukett ("Metoac"), more commonly known as Montauk are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people from the eastern and central sections of Long Island, New York.

Hempstead Plains

Hempstead Plains

The Hempstead Plains is a region of central Long Island, in what is now Nassau County, in New York State. It was once an open expanse of native grassland estimated to once extend to about 60,000 acres (240 km2). It was separated from the North Shore of Long Island by the Harbor Hill Moraine, later approximately Route 25. The modern Hempstead Turnpike approximately traces the separation of the plain from the South Shore of Long Island. The east-west extent was from somewhat west of the modern Queens, New York City border to slightly beyond the Suffolk County border.

Delaware languages

Delaware languages

The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages, are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family. Munsee and Unami, spoken aboriginally by the Lenape people in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Delaware.

Munsee language

Munsee language

Munsee is an endangered language of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family, itself a branch of the Algic language family. Munsee is one of the two Delaware languages. It is very closely related to the Unami Delaware, but the two are sufficiently different that they are considered separate languages. Munsee was spoken aboriginally in the vicinity of the modern New York City area in the United States, including western Long Island, Manhattan Island, Staten Island, as well as adjacent areas on the mainland: southeastern New York State, the northern third of New Jersey, and northeastern Pennsylvania.

Longhouses of the indigenous peoples of North America

Longhouses of the indigenous peoples of North America

Longhouses were a style of residential dwelling built by Native American and First Nations peoples in various parts of North America. Sometimes separate longhouses were built for community meetings.

New England

New England

New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick to the northeast and Quebec to the north. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east and southeast, and Long Island Sound is to the southwest. Boston is New England's largest city, as well as the capital of Massachusetts. Greater Boston is the largest metropolitan area, with nearly a third of New England's population; this area includes Worcester, Massachusetts, Manchester, New Hampshire, and Providence, Rhode Island.

Geography

Fire-island-map.jpg
Long Island
Great South Bay
Fire
Island
Map of Fire Island National Seashore

Fire Island lies on average 3.9 miles (6.2 km) off the South Shore of Long Island, but nearly touches it along the East End. It is separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay, which spans interconnected bays along Long Island: Patchogue Bay, Bellport Bay, Narrow Bay, and Moriches Bay.

The island and its resort communities are accessible by boat, seaplane, and a number of ferries, which run across the bay from Patchogue, Bay Shore, and Sayville, to more than 10 points on the island.

The island is accessible by automobile near each end: via Robert Moses Causeway on its western end, and by William Floyd Parkway (Suffolk County Road 46) near its eastern end. Motor vehicles are not permitted on the rest of the island, except for utility, construction and emergency access and with limited beach-driving permits in winter.

Fire Island is located at 40°39′35″ north, 73°5′23″ west (40°39′11″N 73°07′34″W / 40.653°N 73.126°W / 40.653; -73.126Coordinates: 40°39′11″N 73°07′34″W / 40.653°N 73.126°W / 40.653; -73.126).[28] According to the United States Census Bureau, Fire Island has a land area of 9.6 square miles (24.9 km2).[1]

History of American cartography and international metrology

Single standard with lines marked on the bar and microscopic gauges used in 1880 for baseline measurements in Switzerland, where Hassler first developed this concept.
Single standard with lines marked on the bar and microscopic gauges used in 1880 for baseline measurements in Switzerland, where Hassler first developed this concept.

In 1834, Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler, a Swiss-American surveyor, measured at Fire Island the first baseline of the Survey of the Coast, shortly before Louis Puissant declared, in 1836, to the French Academy of Sciences that Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre and Pierre Méchain had made errors in the meridian arc measurement, which had been used for determining the length of the metre.[29][30] Hassler had designed a baseline apparatus which instead of bringing different bars in actual contact during measurements, used only one bar calibrated on the metre and optical contact.[31][32][33]

At that time in Europe, surveyors continued to use measuring instruments calibrated on the Toise of Peru. In 1840, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel questioned the accuracy of three copies of this standard belonging to Altona and Koenigsberg Observatories, which he had compared to each other.[34] Next year, Bessel proposed his ellipsoid of reference and a flattening of the Earth much closer to reality than that which had been used to compute the length of the metre from the arc measurement of Delambre and Méchain.[35]

Geodesists were the first to demand the creation of an international institute for the comparison of length standards.[36] According to Charles Édouard Guillaume, the consideration of a discrepancy between the Toise of Peru and the Toise of Bessel led the Central European Arc Measurement to consider, at its 1866 meeting in Neuchâtel, where Carlos Ibáñez e Ibáñez de Ibero proposed the participation of Spain to remeasure and extend the meridian arc of Paris, the foundation of a World institute for the comparison of geodetic standards, the first step towards the creation of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.[37][38]

Historical modifications

The physical attributes of the island have changed over time, and they continue to change. At one point it stretched more than 60 miles (97 km) from Jones Beach Island to Southampton.

Around 1683, Fire Island Inlet broke through, separating it from Jones Beach Island.[7]

The Fire Island Inlet grew to 9 miles (14 km) in width before receding. The Fire Island Lighthouse was built in 1858, right on the inlet, but Fire Island's western terminus at Democrat Point has steadily moved west so that the lighthouse today is 6 miles (10 km) from the inlet.

Fire Island separated from Southampton in a 1931 Nor'easter when Moriches Inlet broke through. However, this is expected. The inlet widened on September 21, 1938. Moriches Inlet and efforts by local communities east of Fire Island to protect their beach front with jetties have led to an interruption in the longshore drift of sand going from east to west and are blamed for erosion of the Fire Island beachfront.[39] Between these major breaks there have been reports over the years of at least six inlets that broke through the island but have since disappeared.

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East End (Long Island)

East End (Long Island)

The East End of Long Island is constituted by the five townships at the eastern end of New York's Suffolk County, namely Riverhead, Southampton, Southold, Shelter Island, and East Hampton. Long Island's North Fork and South Fork are part of the East End. "The East End" is sometimes shortened as "The End", but this latter term is also applied only to Montauk, the most easterly hamlet of the contiguous land mass.

Great South Bay

Great South Bay

The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about 45 miles (72 km) long and has an average depth of 4 feet 3 inches (1.3 m) and is 20 feet (6.1 m) at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island.

Moriches Bay

Moriches Bay

Moriches Bay is a lagoon system on the south shore of Long Island, New York. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.

Ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi.

Bay Shore, New York

Bay Shore, New York

Bay Shore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. It is situated on the South Shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. The population of the CDP was 29,244 at the time of the 2020 census.

County Route 46 (Suffolk County, New York)

County Route 46 (Suffolk County, New York)

County Route 46 (CR 46) is a major county road in eastern Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It runs south-to-north from CR 75 in Smith Point County Park to New York State Route 25A (NY 25A) near the border of Shoreham and Wading River. The road is known as the William Floyd Parkway along its entire length, and is named after William Floyd, a Long Island native and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Despite its "parkway" designation within the State of New York, the road is open to commercial vehicles.

Geographic coordinate system

Geographic coordinate system

The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various spatial reference systems that are in use, and forms the basis for most others. Although latitude and longitude form a coordinate tuple like a cartesian coordinate system, the geographic coordinate system is not cartesian because the measurements are angles and are not on a planar surface.

Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler

Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler

Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler was a Swiss-American surveyor who is considered the forefather of both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for his achievements as the first Superintendent of the U.S. Survey of the Coast and the first U.S. Superintendent of Weights and Measures.

Baseline (surveying)

Baseline (surveying)

In surveying, a baseline is a line between two points on the earth's surface and the direction and distance between them. In a triangulation network, at least one baseline between two stations needs to be measured to calculate the size of the triangles by trigonometry.

Louis Puissant

Louis Puissant

Louis Puissant was a French topographical engineer, geodesist, and mathematician.

French Academy of Sciences

French Academy of Sciences

The French Academy of Sciences is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries, and is one of the earliest Academies of Sciences.

Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre

Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre

Jean Baptiste Joseph, chevalier Delambre was a French mathematician, astronomer, historian of astronomy, and geodesist. He was also director of the Paris Observatory, and author of well-known books on the history of astronomy from ancient times to the 18th century.

Landmarks and preserves

Panorama of Fire Island from the top of the Fire Island Light (distorted view)
Panorama of Fire Island from the top of the Fire Island Light (distorted view)

Except for the western 4+1⁄2 miles (7.2 km) of the island, the island is protected as part of Fire Island National Seashore. Robert Moses State Park, occupying the remaining western portion of the island, is one of the popular recreational destinations in the New York City area. The Fire Island Light stands just east of Robert Moses State Park.

A memorial to TWA 800, dedicated in June 2002, is located on the eastern end at Smith Point County Park near where the airplane crashed at sea.[40]

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Panorama

Panorama

A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was coined in the 18th century by the English painter Robert Barker to describe his panoramic paintings of Edinburgh and London. The motion-picture term panning is derived from panorama.

Fire Island National Seashore

Fire Island National Seashore

Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a 26-mile (42 km) section of Fire Island, an approximately 30-mile (48 km) long and 0.5-mile (0.80 km) wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New York State's Suffolk County and the Outer Barrier.

New York City

New York City

New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km2), New York City is the most densely populated major city in the United States and more than twice as populous as Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest city. New York City is located at the southern tip of New York State. It constitutes the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area. With over 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York is one of the world's most populous megacities, and over 58 million people live within 250 mi (400 km) of the city. New York City is a global cultural, financial, entertainment, and media center with a significant influence on commerce, health care and life sciences, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, dining, art, fashion, and sports. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy, and is sometimes described as the capital of the world.

TWA Flight 800

TWA Flight 800

Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31 pm. EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, on a scheduled international passenger flight to Rome, with a stopover in Paris. All 230 people on board died in the crash; it is the third-deadliest aviation accident in U.S. history. Accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) traveled to the scene, arriving the following morning amid speculation that a terrorist attack was the cause of the crash. Consequently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and New York Police Department Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) initiated a parallel criminal investigation. Sixteen months later, the JTTF announced that no evidence of a criminal act had been found and closed its active investigation.

Smith Point County Park

Smith Point County Park

Smith Point County Park is a beachfront park facing the Atlantic Ocean on the east end of Fire Island, along the central south shore of Long Island, near Shirley, New York, United States. It is the largest park owned by Suffolk County.

Locations

Towns are listed below from west to east, communities within each town are listed alphabetically.[41]

Town of Babylon

Town of Islip

German full-rigged ship Peter Rickmers aground on Fire Island, April 30, 1908
German full-rigged ship Peter Rickmers aground on Fire Island, April 30, 1908

Town of Brookhaven

The world's first true tanker, the Glückauf, stranded on March 23/24, 1893 in heavy fog at Blue Point Beach on Fire Island
The world's first true tanker, the Glückauf, stranded on March 23/24, 1893 in heavy fog at Blue Point Beach on Fire Island

Small islands in the vicinity

The following are associated islands in the Fire Island National Seashore Jurisdiction, from west to east:

  • Sexton Island, a small island across from the Fire Island Lighthouse with approximately 20 small, private, summer houses. There is no ferry service or electrical service.
  • West Fire Island, a small island with about a dozen houses. It has no telephone or electrical service.
  • East Fire Island, another longer and larger island next to West Fire Island. East Fire Island, unlike West Fire Island, is uninhabited. People are allowed, although there is no ferry service and the only way to get there is on your own boat.
  • Ridge Island
  • Pelican Island
  • John Boyle Island
  • Hospital Island

Other locations

  • Clam Pond, a small cove between Saltaire and Fair Harbor

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Fire Island Inlet

Fire Island Inlet

Fire Island Inlet is an inlet on the south shore of Long Island, New York.

Full-rigged ship

Full-rigged ship

A full-rigged ship or fully rigged ship is a sailing vessel with a sail plan of three or more masts, all of them square-rigged. Such a vessel is said to have a ship rig or be ship-rigged, with each mast stepped in three segments: lower, top, and topgallant.

Dunewood, New York

Dunewood, New York

Dunewood is a small beach community in the western end of Fire Island, New York State. With about 100 homes originally all built on an identical floor plan, While the community specifically does not market itself to tourists and short-term renters, it is a popular location for long-term residents, and properties are rarely for sale. The community has only very limited facilities, and while during summertime, it shares a doctor with nearby Fair Harbor, during other times of the year, serious medical cases have to be medevaced by helicopter.

Fair Harbor, New York

Fair Harbor, New York

Fair Harbor is a small community hamlet located near the western end of Fire Island. It is a part of the Town of Islip on Long Island, New York. With approximately 350 homes within its 13-block town limits, the town features a few stores, a restaurant and a pizza shop, giving it old-style charm with the security of a state-of-the-art Fire Department and EMS. Moreover, the beach is wide, and the bay front is active.

Kismet, New York

Kismet, New York

Kismet is a hamlet in the town of Islip, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is the westernmost beach community on Fire Island, immediately west of Saltaire and east of the Fire Island Light. Kismet is accessible by road or on foot via Robert Moses State Park to the west, or by ferry from Bay Shore on Long Island.

Lonelyville, New York

Lonelyville, New York

Lonelyville is a small, beach community located in the western end of Fire Island in the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, United States.

Glückauf (1886)

Glückauf (1886)

Glückauf was a German ship that represented a major step forward in oil tanker design. "When the Glückauf sailed from the Tyne on 10 July 1886 she was the first ocean going tanker with oil to her skin". The vessel was in use from 1886 to 25 March 1893, when it ran aground at Fire Island in New York.

Cherry Grove, New York

Cherry Grove, New York

Cherry Grove is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay. The hamlet has approximately 300 houses on 41 acres (170,000 m2), a summer seasonal population of 2,000 and a year-round population of 15.

Davis Park, New York

Davis Park, New York

Davis Park is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay off the South Shore village of Patchogue. It lies within the Fire Island National Seashore.

Fire Island Pines, New York

Fire Island Pines, New York

Fire Island Pines is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay.

Moriches Inlet

Moriches Inlet

Moriches Inlet is an inlet connecting Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.

Ocean Bay Park, New York

Ocean Bay Park, New York

Ocean Bay Park is a hamlet in the town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay. To reach Ocean Bay Park, one must take a ferry or water taxi from Bay Shore.

Inhabitants

Fire Island's population varies seasonally. There are few residents in winter months, with the population rising in the late spring to early fall.

Housing is mostly stick-built bungalow-style with generous helpings of bamboo. Some are beachfront, built on the dunes of the Atlantic Ocean, while others are on boardwalks or concrete walks, like a miniaturized city. For year-round residents, there are schools, churches, shops and even a school bus service to the mainland of Long Island via an off-road modified school bus.

The quiet villages on Fire Island provide solitude, while the larger towns like Ocean Beach and Cherry Grove provide a more social atmosphere with clubs, bars and open air dining. Two of these hamlets, Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove, are destinations for LGBT vacationers.

The incorporated villages of Ocean Beach and Saltaire within Fire Island National Seashore are car-free during the summer tourist season (Memorial Day through Labor Day) and permit only pedestrian and bicycle traffic (during certain hours only in Ocean Beach). For off-season use, there are a limited number of driving permits for year-round residents and contractors. The hamlet of Davis Park allows no vehicles or bicycles year-round.

In 1992 Diane Ketcham of The New York Times noted that due to the lack of retail, entertainment, and television options, especially in the winter, area children often felt boredom and therefore felt excited to attend school.[42]

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census[43] of 2000, there were 491 people, 138 households, and 77 families residing on Fire Island. The population density was 52.82/mi2 (21.82/km2). There were 4,153 housing units, at an average density of 478.1/mi2 (184.6/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 96.77% White, 0.65% Asian, 0.32% Pacific Islander, 0.65% from other races, and 1.61% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.90% of the population.

There were 138 households on Fire Island, out of which 25.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were married couples living together, 2.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.2% were non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.90.

Fire Island's population was spread out, with 20.6% under the age of 18, 6.5% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 33.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 133.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 143.6 males.

The median income for a household on Fire Island was $73,281, and the median income for a family was $83,672. Males had a median income of $46,875 versus $41,429 for females. The per capita income for Fire Island was $43,681. 0.0% of families and 3.1% of individuals were below the poverty line, including 0.0% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.

Famous summer residents

After the Manhattan theater community began staying on Fire Island during the 1920s, the island had numerous summer celebrity residents.[44]

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Stick style

Stick style

The Stick style was a late-19th-century American architectural style, transitional between the Carpenter Gothic style of the mid-19th century, and the Queen Anne style that it had evolved into by the 1890s. It is named after its use of linear "stickwork" on the outside walls to mimic an exposed half-timbered frame.

Bungalow

Bungalow

A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof, and may be surrounded by wide verandas.

Bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in the case of Dendrocalamus sinicus individual culms reaching a length of 151 feet, up to fourteen inches in thickness and a weight of up to 990 pounds. The internodes of bamboos can also be of great length. Kinabaluchloa wrayi has internodes up to 8.2 feet in length. exceeded in length only by Papyrus. By contrast, the culms of the tiny bamboo Raddiella vanessiae of the Kaieteur Plateau in French Guiana are only 0.4–0.8 inches in length by about one-twelfth inch in width. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada.

Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about 106,460,000 km2 (41,100,000 sq mi). It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe, and Asia from the "New World" of the Americas in the European perception of the World.

Fire Island Pines, New York

Fire Island Pines, New York

Fire Island Pines is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay.

Cherry Grove, New York

Cherry Grove, New York

Cherry Grove is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay. The hamlet has approximately 300 houses on 41 acres (170,000 m2), a summer seasonal population of 2,000 and a year-round population of 15.

LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.

Saltaire, New York

Saltaire, New York

Saltaire is a village on Fire Island in the southern part of the Town of Islip in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The year-round population was 37 at the 2010 census, which, as a summer beach community, increases many times over in the summer.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. From 1868 to 1970 it was observed on May 30.

Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States. The three-day weekend it falls on is called Labor Day Weekend.

Davis Park, New York

Davis Park, New York

Davis Park is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is located on Fire Island, a barrier island separated from the southern side of Long Island by the Great South Bay off the South Shore village of Patchogue. It lies within the Fire Island National Seashore.

Population density

Population density

Population density is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term. In simple terms, population density refers to the number of people living in an area per square kilometre, or other unit of land area.

Emergency services

Fire Island's unique location and constantly changing geography play a major role in the protection of its citizens. Although it is served by ten fire departments and two police departments,[51] the seasonal residency and remote driving distance are a challenge to the public safety community. Because there are no roads on inhabited Fire Island, fire department vehicles are heavily modified four-wheel drive with suspension lifts, large diameter off-road tires and recovery equipment, which allow them to traverse the sometimes washed-out, loose sand.

Until 1986, there was no ambulance service on Fire Island,[52] prompting the village of Saltaire to form its rescue company, later followed by Ocean Beach, and then in the 2000s with Fair Harbor. Due to relatively close distances, fire departments on Fire Island are obliged to provide mutual aid to neighboring communities.[53] Some coastal fire departments on Long Island have fully equipped marine rescue and fire boat units which can cross the Great South Bay to provide necessary assistance.

Fire Island's corps of off-road-capable fire apparatus and the firefighters' training to use them effectively provide much-needed support in the event of a wildfire, as was illustrated in the Long Island Central Pine Barrens fires of 1995.

Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center, Southside Hospital, and Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center are located directly across the Great South Bay from Fire Island in the Long Island hamlets of West Islip, Bay Shore, and the village of Patchogue, respectively. A heliport for medevac helicopter use is adjacent to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center. Specially equipped boats provided by the Suffolk County Police Department Marine Bureau docked at the various communities on Fire Island provide emergency transportation to individuals in need of dire medical care. In many cases, Long Island based ambulances will meet the boats once they cross the Bay (roughly 4.5 miles) and then drive individuals the short distance to one of the three hospitals. Also, one emergency access road connects Long Island (West Islip) to Fire Island (Kismet). However, the road ends there and does not extend the full length of the island into the other communities.

The Suffolk County Police Department Marine Bureau is the primary law enforcement agency. Ocean Beach also has a dedicated police department of its own. Criminal proceedings are handled by Suffolk District Court and subjects that are arrested will go to the 3rd, 1st or 5th precinct, or to one of the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office-run jails. Small claims and property matters are usually handled by the individual village of case origin. It is common practice for police to write tickets then send unruly visitors off the island via water taxi, at the offender's expense.[54]

The Suffolk County Park Police and New York State Park Police patrol the Robert Moses State Park, while the National Park Service is stationed at the Fire Island Light and Fire Island National Seashore.

The United States Coast Guard has a base on Fire Island and provides aerial and nautical patrols to the Fire Island National Seashore as well as all beaches in the area. One of the oldest Coast Guard stations in America, Station #25 has been in uninterrupted operation since 1849.[55]

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Four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive

Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case providing an additional output drive shaft and, in many instances, additional gear ranges.

Fair Harbor, New York

Fair Harbor, New York

Fair Harbor is a small community hamlet located near the western end of Fire Island. It is a part of the Town of Islip on Long Island, New York. With approximately 350 homes within its 13-block town limits, the town features a few stores, a restaurant and a pizza shop, giving it old-style charm with the security of a state-of-the-art Fire Department and EMS. Moreover, the beach is wide, and the bay front is active.

Mutual aid (emergency services)

Mutual aid (emergency services)

In emergency services, mutual aid is an agreement among emergency responders to lend assistance across jurisdictional boundaries. This may occur due to an emergency response that exceeds local resources, such as a disaster or a multiple-alarm fire. Mutual aid may be ad hoc, requested only when such an emergency occurs. It may also be a formal standing agreement for cooperative emergency management on a continuing basis, such as ensuring that resources are dispatched from the nearest fire station, regardless of which side of the jurisdictional boundary the incident is on. Agreements that send closest resources are regularly referred to as "automatic aid agreements".

Great South Bay

Great South Bay

The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about 45 miles (72 km) long and has an average depth of 4 feet 3 inches (1.3 m) and is 20 feet (6.1 m) at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island.

Long Island Central Pine Barrens

Long Island Central Pine Barrens

The Long Island Central Pine Barrens is a large area of publicly protected pine barrens in Suffolk County, New York, on Long Island, covering more than 100,000 acres (405 km2).

Bay Shore, New York

Bay Shore, New York

Bay Shore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Islip, New York, United States. It is situated on the South Shore of Long Island, adjoining the Great South Bay. The population of the CDP was 29,244 at the time of the 2020 census.

Patchogue, New York

Patchogue, New York

Patchogue is a village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the town of Brookhaven, on the south shore of Long Island, adjoining Great South Bay. It is officially known as the Incorporated Village of Patchogue.

Suffolk County Police Department

Suffolk County Police Department

The Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) provides police services to 5 of the 10 Towns in Suffolk County, New York. It is one of the largest police agencies in the United States, with approximately 2500 sworn officers.

Ocean Beach, New York

Ocean Beach, New York

Ocean Beach is a village in the southern part of the Town of Islip, on Fire Island, within Suffolk County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 79. Known for its strict local ordinances, the village is nicknamed "The Land of No".

Suffolk County, New York

Suffolk County, New York

Suffolk County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,525,920 making it the fourth-most populous county in the State of New York, and the most populous excluding the five counties of New York City. Its county seat is Riverhead, though most county offices are in Hauppauge. The county was named after the county of Suffolk in England, from where its earliest European settlers came.

New York State Park Police

New York State Park Police

The New York State Park Police (NYSPP), is the law enforcement agency of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properties with various title designations. The U.S. Congress created the agency on August 25, 1916, through the National Park Service Organic Act. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., within the main headquarters of the Department of the Interior.

Education

School districts that cover the island include:[56]

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Bay Shore High School

Bay Shore High School

Bay Shore High School is a public high school located in Bay Shore, New York. The school serves about 2,000 students in grades 9 to 12. It is part of Bay Shore Schools. Bay Shore High School is an International Baccalaureate school.

Islip High School

Islip High School

Islip High School is the public high school in Islip, in Suffolk County, New York on the South Shore of Long Island. It is a part of the Islip School District.

West Hampton Dunes, New York

West Hampton Dunes, New York

West Hampton Dunes is an incorporated village in the Town of Southampton on Westhampton Island, in Suffolk County, in New York, United States, off the South Shore of Long Island. The population was 55 at the 2010 census.

In popular culture

  • The 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis uses a Fire Island reference to emphasize that the eponymous character keeps "queer" company.
  • The August 1965 feature "Shel Silverstein on Fire Island" appeared in Playboy magazine, with humorous quips about the gay club scene there.
  • The 1969 film Last Summer by Frank Perry, adapted by Eleanor Perry from the Evan Hunter novel about a summer of sexual discovery on Fire Island, brought an Oscar nomination for actress Catherine Burns.
  • The pioneering 1971 gay pornographic film Boys in the Sand by Wakefield Poole was filmed on Fire Island.
  • American writer Patricia Nell Warren locates parts of her 1974 best-selling novel The Front Runner on the Island, as well as parts of the 1994 sequel Harlan's Race.
  • The 1975 Brian Eno album Another Green World features the song "Over Fire Island".
  • The Village People included a song titled "Fire Island" on their 1977 debut album; the song refers to the island as "a funky weekend" and mention several locations on the island such as the Ice Palace, the Monster, the Blue Whale, and the Sandpiper.
  • Rob Halford, lead singer of the heavy metal band Judas Priest, sings about a visit to a leather bar on "New York's Fire Island" in the song "Raw Deal" on the 1977 release Sin After Sin.
  • The song "Come to Me" has been described as "the definitive Fire Island dance classic" because of the legendary July 7, 1979, Fire Island concert performance by 16-year-old France Joli for an oceanfront audience of 5,000 (after Donna Summer cancelled at the last minute, Joli stepped in as a replacement and became an overnight sensation).[58]
  • The 1980 teen novel My First Love and Other Disasters by Francine Pascal takes place largely on Fire Island, where the protagonist, Victoria Martin, is working as a mother's helper. (Francine Pascal: Dell, 1980)
  • Fire Island is the setting of the 1991 Terrence McNally play Lips Together, Teeth Apart.
  • The song "Pretty Deep" on the 1997 album Lovesongs for Underdogs by Tanya Donelly refers to a visit to Fire Island.
  • Fire Island is repeatedly referenced on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace, first broadcast in 1998.
  • When Ocean Meets Sky,[59] a 2003 documentary detailing the 50-year history of the Fire Island Pines community, includes much previously unseen archival footage.
  • The 2003 album Welcome Interstate Managers by Fountains of Wayne featured the song "Fire Island" about two siblings' home-alone shenanigans while their parents vacation on the island.
  • The song "Gay Messiah" on the 2004 album Want Two by Rufus Wainwright makes a reference to the popularity of Fire Island for gay and lesbian tourists, remarking that when the "gay messiah" comes, "He will fall from the star / of Studio 54 / and appear on the sand / of Fire Island's shore".
  • Fire Island serves dual meanings as both a vacation destination and a homoerotic euphemism in the 2004 book Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.
  • The mockumentary Beach Comber[60] was filmed on Fire Island in 2004.
  • The 2006 ABC reality show One Ocean View was shot on Fire Island.
  • Fire Island is featured prominently in the 2008 Ann Brashares novel The Last Summer (of You and Me), about two sisters and a friend who grow up together, vacationing on the island every summer.
  • The 2019 mystery film Last Ferry features a gay tourist visiting the Fire Island in search of fun and adventure, who arrives during the off-season.
  • The 2022 rom-com Fire Island features a group of gay friends on a weeklong vacation to the locale.
  • On the show American Horror Story in season 11 'NYC' gay people often take a trip to Fire Island to escape the city.

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Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade is a 1955 novel by American author Patrick Dennis chronicling the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his Aunt Mame Dennis, the sister of his dead father.

Patrick Dennis

Patrick Dennis

Edward Everett Tanner III, known by the pseudonym Patrick Dennis, was an American author. His novel Auntie Mame: An irreverent escapade (1955) was one of the bestselling American books of the 20th century. In chronological vignettes, the narrator — also named Patrick — recalls his adventures growing up under the wing of his madcap aunt, Mame Dennis. Dennis wrote a sequel, titled Around the World with Auntie Mame, in 1958. Dennis based the character of Mame Dennis on his father's sister, Marion Tanner. Dennis also wrote several novels under the pseudonym Virginia Rowans.

Gay

Gay

Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.

Last Summer

Last Summer

Last Summer is a 1969 teen drama film about adolescent sexuality based on the 1968 novel of the same name by Evan Hunter. Director Frank Perry filmed at Fire Island locations. It stars Catherine Burns, Barbara Hershey, Bruce Davison and Richard Thomas. Burns' performance earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and she won a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award.

Frank Perry

Frank Perry

Frank Joseph Perry Jr. was an American stage director and filmmaker. His 1962 independent film David and Lisa earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. The couple collaborated on five more films, including The Swimmer, Diary of a Mad Housewife, and the Emmy Award–nominated A Christmas Memory, based on a short story by Truman Capote. Perry went on to form Corsair Pictures, privately financed by United Artists Theatres, which produced Miss Firecracker and A Shock to the System, then folded. His later films include Mommie Dearest and the documentary On the Bridge, about his battle with prostate cancer.

Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter

Evan Hunter, born Salvatore Albert Lombino, was an American author and screenwriter best known for his 87th Precinct novels, written under his Ed McBain pen name, and the novel upon which the film Blackboard Jungle was based.

Catherine Burns

Catherine Burns

Catherine Burns was an American actress of stage, film, radio and television. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Last Summer (1969).

Boys in the Sand

Boys in the Sand

Boys in the Sand is a landmark American gay pornographic film, released early in the Golden Age of Porn. The 1971 film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan. It was the first gay porn film to include credits and to be reviewed by the film industry journal Variety, and one of the earliest porn films – after Andy Warhol's 1969 film Blue Movie, but preceding 1972's Deep Throat – to gain mainstream credibility.

Patricia Nell Warren

Patricia Nell Warren

Patricia Nell Warren, also known by her pen name Patricia Kilina, was an American novelist, poet, editor and journalist. Her second novel, The Front Runner (1974), was the first work of contemporary gay fiction to make the New York Times Best Seller list. Her third novel, The Fancy Dancer (1976), was the first bestseller to portray a gay priest and to explore gay life in a small town.

Another Green World

Another Green World

Another Green World is the third studio album by English musician Brian Eno, released by Island Records in November 1975. Produced by Eno and Rhett Davies, it features contributions from a small core of musicians, including Robert Fripp (guitar), Phil Collins (drums), Percy Jones, and Rod Melvin (piano). John Cale plays viola on two tracks.

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a thick, monumental sound characterized by distorted guitars, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats and loudness.

Judas Priest

Judas Priest

Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in the latter half of the 1970s, the band had struggled with indifferent record production and a lack of major commercial success until 1980, when they rose to commercial success with the album British Steel.

Source: "Fire Island", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, January 10th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Island.

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Further Reading

Suffolk County, New York

Cherry Grove, New York

Islip, New York

Brookhaven, New York

Great South Bay

Fire Island National Seashore

Fire Island Pines, New York

Smith Point County Park

South Shore (Long Island)

Outer Barrier

Davis Park, New York

Fire Island Inlet

Kismet, New York

List of municipalities on Long Island

Cupsogue Beach County Park

Moriches Bay

List of county routes in Suffolk County, New York (76–100)

Ponquogue Parkway
See also
References
  1. ^ a b Consisting of the Fire Island CDP plus the villages of Saltaire and Ocean Beach: "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Fire Island CDP, New York". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2012."Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Saltaire village, New York". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved December 28, 2012."Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Ocean Beach village, New York". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  2. ^ "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Fire Island CDP, New York". U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  3. ^ Edwards, C. (1935). A History of Early Sayville, Sayville, N.Y.: Suffolk County News Press
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  5. ^ "history - Retrieved 2007-11-02". Fairharbor.com. January 23, 2005. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  6. ^ Caro, Robert (1974). The Power Broker. New York: Vintage Books. p. 160.
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  10. ^ Field, Van; Field, Mary. "Illustrated History of the Moriches Bay Area". The Center Moriches Free Public Library. The Center Moriches Free Public Library. Archived from the original on January 29, 2011. Retrieved March 20, 2020. The Indian, John Mayhew must have been a real entrepreneur. He seems to have taken an English name and proceeded to trade land with the settlers. Later, after observing the settlers buying and selling land, he obtained a grant for his land from Governor Dongan and permission to sell half of it.
  11. ^ Morris, Tom (January 6, 2008). "Fire Island: From Pirates to Slavery to Fun in the Sun". newsday.com. Newsday, Inc. Archived from the original on January 6, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2020. Pirate activities on the Fire Island coast are well documented, and legends are legion.
  12. ^ Stansell, Christine. The New Republic. March 26, 2008. From an article on the life of Margaret Fuller, who died 1850 in a shipwreck at Fire Island: "The Fire Islanders of the day were a nasty group, who lived off pickings from shipwrecks that washed up on the beach, and they had no use for rescue efforts. So although the boat was in clear sight of the shore, no one acted while there was time. The family spent the night with other desperate passengers huddled on the disintegrating ship."
  13. ^ DeWan, George (April 27, 2005). "The 1892 Cholera Panic". newsday.com. Newsday, Inc. Archived from the original on April 27, 2005. Retrieved March 20, 2020. Islip officials and townspeople try to stop a quarantine of ship passengers on Fire Island
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  41. ^ "Official NPS Map - Retrieved 2007-11-02" (PDF). Retrieved September 23, 2010.
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  43. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
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  45. ^ "Playbill". Playbill.com. November 20, 2005. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
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