A Long Island Lighthouse History Timeline

This Timeline Last Updated 11/30/2000

1756 - Colonel George Washington passes through Long Island on his way to Boston. He spends some time with Ezra L'Hommidieu on the North Fork and they speak of the need for a lighthouse on Horton Point.

1789 - The Lighthouses Act is passed by Congress and signed into law by President Washington. This law puts the responsibility for the nation's lighthouses in federal hands.

1792 - The decision is made to build the Montauk Point lighthouse. It will be the first lighthouse in America funded entirely by the federal government.

1796, November 5 - The Montauk Point lighthouse is completed.

1797, Spring - The Montauk Point lighthouse is first lit.

1798 - The Eaton's neck lighthouse is built.

1799, January 1 - The Eaton's Neck lighthouse is lit.

1803 - The federal government buys Great Gull Island and Little Gull Island.

1806 - The Little Gull Island lighthouse is built to help protect ships passing through The Race.

1809 - The Sands Point lighthouse is built.

1815, September - A hurricane undermines half of the keeper's quarters at the Little Gull Island light station. The keeper is ashore, but his wife and four children must endure the wrath of the storm on the tiny island.

1817, May through August - A 100-foot diameter wall is built around the Little Gull Island light station to protect it from the seas. One of the workers on the wall is Henry Thomas (Tom) Dering, who keeps a diary of the project, and will later become the local superintendent of lighthouses.

1823-24 - The Old Field Point lighthouse is built.

1826-27 - Lighthouses are built at Plum Island and Fire Island.

1837 - A light ship is put on station near Stratford Shoal.

1838 - The federal government buys Cedar Island from the Town of East Hampton for $200.

1839 - The Cedar Island lighthouse is built.

1849 - The North Dumpling lighthouse is built.

1849-50 - The Execution Rocks lighthouse is built.

1852 - Congress turns the administration of US lighthouses over to the recently created Lighthouse Board. The new Board will make sweeping changes in America's system of lighthouses, including the lighthouses on Long Island.

1854 - The Gardiner's Point lighthouse is built. It is Long Island's first lighthouse to be built with a Fresnel lens.

1855 - The Cedar Island lighthouse receives a Sixth Order Fresnel lens. The land for a lighthouse at Horton Point is finally obtained by the government.

1856 - The Plum Island lighthouse receives a Fresnel lens.

1857 - Lighthouses are built at Lloyd Harbor and Horton Point.

1858, January 1  - The Great West Bay (Shinnecock Bay, Ponquogue) lighthouse is lit. It is Long Island's first lighthouse to cast light from a First Order Fresnel lens.

1858, November 5  - The new Fire Island lighthouse is lit. It is the second First Order lighthouse on Long Island, and the last pre-Civil War Long Island lighthouse.

1860 - The Montauk Point lighthouse is renovated, and modified to accept a First Order Fresnel lens. Long Island now has three First Order seacoast lights protecting the waters of its south shore.

1867 - The Block Island North lighthouse (Rhode Island) is rebuilt in a new, standard Fourth Order style designed by Third District engineers. Six of these lighthouses will be built in the Rhode Island/Long Island/Connecticut area.

1869 - The Cedar Island and Old Field Point lighthouses are rebuilt. The new Old Field lighthouse is another example of the standard Third District Fourth Order lighthouse.

1870 - The Plum Island, Little Gull Island, and North Dumpling lighthouses are rebuilt. The Plum Island lighthouse is the last of the standard Fourth Order lighthouses to be built in the area. The Long Beach Bar lighthouse is built. Work begins on the foundation for a lighthouse at Race Rock.

1877 - The Stepping Stones lighthouse is built.

1878 - The Race Rock and Stratford Shoal lighthouses are completed.

1879, January 1 - Race Rock is lit.

1884 - The Latimer Reef lighthouse is built.

1890 - The Cold Spring Harbor and Coney Island lighthouses are built.

1894, March 7 - A storm undermines the Gardiner's Point lighthouse and the keeper must abandon it. The light falls into the sea shortly thereafter.

1896 - A light ship is stationed off of Fire Island.

1899 - The Orient Point lighthouse is built.

1912 - The Lloyd Harbor light is replaced by a new structure. The new light is built offshore, at the entrance to Huntington Harbor.

1933 - The Old Field Point and Horton Point lighthouses are replaced by skeleton towers.

1934 - The Cedar Island and Shinnecock lighthouses are replaced by skeleton towers.

1938, September 21 - The infamous 1938 Hurricane hits the area, causing great loss of life and property. None of the area's lighthouses are destroyed, although all feel the effects. Cedar Island becomes Cedar Point, as the hurricane fills the strait between the island and Long Island's South Fork with sand.

1939 - The US Lighthouse Service is dissolved, and its duties taken over by the US Coast Guard. Keepers are given the option of remaining civilians or assuming Coast Guard status. About half choose military appointments.

1947 - The original Lloyd Harbor light, long abandoned, is burned, reportedly by careless hunters who had occupied it for the night.

1948, December 23 - The Shinnecock lighthouse is demolished. Long Island loses one of its most historically important, and beautiful, lighthouses.

1963, July 4 - Vandals burn down the Long Beach Bar lighthouse.

1966 - The National Historic Preservation Act is signed into public law. This law requires that the federal government protect historic properties under its ownership.

1974, June 7  - The Cedar Island lighthouse burns. Only the granite shell remains. A new roof is installed, but the lighthouse will remain an empty shell.

1974 - The Fire Island lighthouse is decommissioned and a small light is placed atop a nearby water tower.

1978 - The Plum Island lighthouse is decommissioned.

1982 - The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society is formed in response to the possible demolition of the Fire Island lighthouse.

1986, May 25  - The Fire Island lighthouse is relit, with a DCB-224 optic casting a flash of white light every 7.5 seconds.

1987 - The Montauk lighthouse is the last Long Island lighthouse to lose its keepers. The 3rd and one half order Fresnel lens is replaced with a DCB-224 optic.

1990, July 4 - Work begins on the rebuilding of the Long Beach Bar lighthouse.

1990, September 5 - The rebuilt Long Beach Bar lighthouse (The Bug Light) is lit.

1994 - The 1897 Fourth Order Fresnel lens and clockworks from the Plum Island lighthouse is put on display at the East End Seaport Maritime Museum.

1995 - The 1869 Second Order Fresnel lens is removed from the Little Gull Island tower and put on display at the East End Seaport Maritime Museum.

1998 - A small web site is created about Long Island's lighthouses. In May of 1999, this web site will become LongIslandLighthouses.com

1999, October - Horton Point's FA-251 optic is replaced with a VRB-25, the new standard USCG optic.

2000, July - The Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society is formed, and begins an effort to save the Plum Island lighthouse.

2000, October 24 - The National Historic Lighthouses Preservation Act is signed into law, further proving the will of the American people to preserve their lighthouse legacy.