Fire Island Lighthouse (NYC Part 6)

Sitting to the south of Long Island's main-land is a tiny strip of land, similar to North Carolina's Outer Banks. The majority of this strip of land is known as Fire Island. The current 168 foot tower spans up out of the Robert Moses State Park also within the Fire Island National Seashore. The lighthouse was definitely an integral part of our NYC/Long Island trip as it is New York's tallest and one of the most impressive. As you cross over the Robert Moses Causeway and park in the parking lot that leads to the lighthouse walking trail you can see the lighthouse for miles on either side.

 

Walking along the trail getting closer to the lighthouse affords several great views and photo opportunities.

You may notice in the lower left hand corner of the last picture a building under construction. At the time we were there they were building this structure in order to house the original first-order Fresnel lens as it was set to be returned from where it was being kept in a museum in Philadelphia. And of course there was this sign making visitors aware.

The lighthouse used that lens up until 1933 when it was replaced by the one at the decommissioned Shinnecock Lighthouse, then in 1952 a more modern Crouse-Hinds beacon consisting of two lights stacked on top of the other was installed (pictured to the right). It has been said that the Fire Island Lighthouse was (and still is) the most important beacon for transatlantic ships, as it is basically the only thing marking Long Island's southern shore. Therefore it is usually the first marker that ships see as they approach New York from "across the pond."

Finally we made it to the home stretch of the trail leading to the lighthouse and I of course had to take my famed shot of the lantern room and we captured another great shot displaying the tower and keeper's residence. 

You may or may not recognize the keeper's residence from somewhere, well most likely you don't but in the movie "Men in Black II" the lighthouse's bi-level keeper's quarters was used as the post office where Agent K went back to work in Truro, MA. Truthfully, I had seen this movie several times before I learned from LighthouseFriends' list of U.S. and Canadian Lighthouses that appear in movies, that it actually was this lighthouse.

When we made it to the site all we could do was be in awe of how high the tower actually was and unfortunately we got there too late to be able to climb it. But we were still able to get these great photos and go inside and see some of the displays.

As for one final note, while we were there we walked along the back of the keeper's residence/tower and saw this.

Looks like the lighthouse carries wedding ceremonies on its grounds. We definitely dropped the ball on this one, not like we would have traveled all the way to Long Island for our wedding but it still is an awesome idea (especially for the "Western NY Lighthouse Lovers"). Oh well, we'll just have to keep that idea in our back pockets...