Fire Island
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Fire Island is a barrier island, approximately 30 mi (48 km) long and 0.5 mi. (1 km) wide, in Suffolk County on the southern side of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York.
Fire Island is separated from Long Island by the five mi (eight km) wide Great South Bay, a natural harbor formed by the island. A small portion is accessible from Long Island by the Robert Moses Causeway (also known as Captree Causeway) on its western end and by New York State Highway 46 near its eastern end.
The island and its resort towns are mainly accessible by the numerous ferries that traverse Great South Bay or by private watercraft.
Except for the western 5 mi. (8 km) of the island, the island is protected as part of Fire Island National Seashore. Robert Moses State Park on the western tip of the island is one of the popular recreational destinations in the New York City area.
The Fire Island Lighthouse is a visible landmark just east of Robert Moses State Park.
Inhabitants of Fire Island
The incorporated villages of Ocean Beach and Saltaire within Fire Island National Seashore are carfree during the summer tourist season (Memorial Day thru Labor Day) and permit only pedestrian and bicycle traffic (during certain hours only in Ocean Beach). There are a limited number of driving permits for year-round residents and contractors for use during the Off-season. Fire Island also contains a number of unincorporated villages (hamlets). Two of these hamlets, known as the Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove, have a reputation as being popular destinations for gay vacationers. These two communities have brought the misconceived notion that the entire island is an attraction for gay vacationers when in fact this is far from the case.
View_of_western_fire_island_from_lighthouse.jpg
Beach erosion largely due to construction of jetties at the Moriches Inlet, opened naturally by a storm in 1931 and widened by the Labor Day Hurricane of 1938, is described in a report on the geological effects of the Hurricane of 1938 (http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/geological_impact.html).
The avant-garde American poet Frank O'Hara was accidentally killed when he was tragically run over by a dune buggy while sleeping on the beach.
Communities and locations on Fire Island
- Atlantique -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Bayberry Dunes -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Cherry Grove -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Davis Park -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Dunewood -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Fair Harbor -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Fire Island Inlet -- The gap between the west end of Fire Island and Jones Beach Island, allowing watercraft to enter the Atlantic Ocean from the Great South Bay.
- Fire Island Pines -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Fire Island National Seashore --
- Kismet -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Lonelyville -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Moriches Inlet -- An inlet at the eastern end of the island.
- Ocean Bay Park -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Ocean Beach -- The Village of Ocean Beach.
- Point o' Woods -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Robert Moses State Park -- A state park on the western end of the island.
- Robins Rest -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.
- Saltaire -- The Village of Saltaire.
- Seaview -- A hamlet in the western part of the island.