The Orient Point Lighthouse Turns 100

On July 31, 1999, the Orient Point lighthouse had a birthday party. In attendance were about 150 people on a Coast Guard buoy tender, a Coast Guard fire boat, a chartered fishing boat and several pleasure boats. Passersby on the Cross Sound Ferries got to celebrate, too. The birthday light wore its special banner, which it has since early June, and received a gun salute, a helicopter flyby, and a fire boat demonstration.

I was on the chartered fishing boat, the Peconic Star II, with about 100 other folks who had decided to join this event, which was sponsored by the East End Seaport Foundation. Below are some images, courtesy of Diane Mancini, and comments on our day, which lasted from 9:30AM to 3:30 in the afternoon.

On the way from Greenport to Orient Point, you pass the Bug Light. It was a hazy morning at this point.

The USCG bouy tender Katherine Walker, named after the former Robbins Reef keeper.

The lighthouse was waiting for us, all decked out in her birthday outfit.

The Kate Walker passes south of the light to get into position for the festivities.

No birthday party is complete without a helicopter fly-by.

A Coast Guard fire boat salutes the light. The national anthem was also played and a gun salute given from shore by the Groton Navy Saluting Battery

The light almost looked lonely when the party was over and we moved on.

The Plum Island light, on the opposite side of Plum Gut, was our next stop. Notice how close this light is getting to the edge.

Plum Island's cast-iron tower is identical, except for color, to such towers as Old Field Point and Block Island North.

Our next stop was "The Ruins" at the site of the old Gardiner's Island light and Fort Tyler. This is all that remains of the $500,000 fort built during the Spanish-American War.

This windmill resides on the west side of Gardiner's Island and can be viewed from Cherry Harbor.

Dolphins in Gardiner's Bay? You bet! We followed them and watched them for over half an hour.

While the Orient Point light celebrated a birthday, the Cedar Island light waited for help.

The old (1868) light and the new (1934) lights at Cedar Point.

On the way back to Greenport, we passed the Bug Light again. This time past, Captain Brennan brought us very close to the light.

The day was fun. The Peconic Star's captain, Dave Brennan, and crew were great. They seemed to enjoy the outing as much as the rest of us and worked to make sure we all had fun. I got to share some of the reseach I've been doing with about 100 more people. And the folks who were on the cruise were the usual great group of lighthouse folks.

In 13 years we get to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Huntington Harbor lighthouse. I hope we have a similar celebration.

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The text and code on this page are Copyright © 1999 Robert G. Muller and the images are Copyright © 1999 Diane Mancini. Please don't violate these rights by copying, downloading or printing out this page without prior written permission. Please contact me if you'd like to do so and I'll be happy to give you a hearty "okey dokey." Thanks. :-)