Fire Island Lighthouse

Sitting at the western tip of Fire Island is the iconic Fire Island Lighthouse. This historic monument and museum is open most days of the year for tours and visits. Dating back to 1826, the Lighthouse has been renovated several times and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.  In January 2006, the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society (FILPS), through an agreement with the National Park Service, took over maintenance and operation of the Fire Island Lighthouse and Keeper’s Quarters.

Today the light is lit by two 1000-watt bulbs, which rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, giving the appearance of a flash every 7.5 seconds. The light is visible for approximately 21-24 miles

Visit www.fireislandlighthouse.com for more information.

Kismet

Walking east from the Lighthouse, you’ll find Kismet, a town with the most year-round residents and a place where people enjoy naming their homes. With about 225 houses and two small condominiums, Kismet’s bay front has a small commercial district that serves as the community center and includes two restaurants, the Inn and Surf’s Out, a pizzeria, a general store with food, and Fire House located close to the ferry terminal. There are two tennis courts and a children’s playground adjacent to the area. Since 2007, when new concrete sidewalks were constructed throughout the community, upscale new homes have been added. 

Saltaire

One of the oldest communities on Fire Island, Saltaire was founded in 1911 as a haven for families and individuals seeking serenity and the peaceful enjoyment of nature, and for over a century this has remained its guiding principle. Determined to keep Saltaire the kind of place it was intended to be, in 1917 residents voted to become the first of only two incorporated villages on the island, allowing them to make their own decisions regarding zoning, finances, services and, most important, quality-of-life issues.

Today Saltaire remains almost exclusively residential, without restaurants, bars, or shops except for its market (featuring homemade bread and foods plus a small liquor store) and the private-member Saltaire Yacht Club (offering sailing, tennis, dining and social activities). The village features a day camp and playground for kids as well as a large ballfield, a bay swimming area with lanes, facilities for team sports for all age groups, a library, Post Office, marina, bay and ocean lifeguards, medical coverage, Public Safety officers, a maintenance staff, and the Saltaire Volunteer Fire Company, which provides both fire protection and ambulance service.

Meetings of the Village Board of Trustees are always well attended, while the Saltaire Citizens’ Association organizes such events as the Music & Arts Festival (including fireworks and a bayfront picnic), Halloween Fall Festival, Candidate Forum and other civic activities. Badly damaged in the hurricanes of 1938 and 2012, Saltaire recovered strongly each time as houses and infrastructure were rebuilt to safer standards than before. Though most of Saltaire’s streets have always been boardwalks, in recent years the village has begun replacing its few cement walks with wooden ones to enhance the community’s traditional look. Situated on the widest part of Fire Island, and boasting broad and unimpeded vistas overlooking the bay (especially good for viewing sunsets from the Brodkin Park gazebo or Yacht Club deck), the village has preserved its heritage of green space over the years by acquiring gifts of open land and increasing the number of lots required to build, helping to keep Saltaire the kind of community envisioned by its founders.

Visit link below for more.

Fair Harbor

Fair Harbor, a hamlet of the Town of Islip, is a family community known for its sunsets on the dock. Bring a cocktail — you may hear music and see children selling cupcakes. On the first Saturday in July, you’ll find the Pine Walk Fair with lots of crafts and beachy items, and on Wednesday nights in July and August, kids’ movies are shown in the fire house, where community pancake breakfasts are served twice each summer. Fair Harbor has 360 homes, some constructed in the ‘60s, many new homes, and a few year-round homes. The town prides itself on a state-of-the-art EMS and active volunteer Fire Department which serves the surrounding areas, including Dunewood and Lonelyville as well as Fair Harbor. Its commercial area includes Pioneer Market, a general store, a liquor store, LeDock restaurant, a pizzeria and Unfriendly’s Ice Cream Store. Fair Harbor has an active community association that offers extra community services, including a bay beach swim area with life guards focused on kids and swim instruction.

Visit www.fairharbor.org for more

Dunewood

Dunewood has always been one of the most family-oriented enclaves on Fire Island. Built over the course of 25 years by developer and environmental activist Murray Barbash, Dunewood’s complete lack of commercially zoned property and intimate scale (only 99 homes) makes it well suited for young children. Amenities include a private bay beach, the highly regarded Dunewood Yacht Club, two tennis courts, and public ocean beach served by Town of Islip lifeguards. The community offers swimming lessons, sailing lessons, and a tennis clinic for children. Group rentals are prohibited by the Dunewood Property Owners Association. Photo by Gilda Gross.

Lonelyville

Lonelyville starts a few steps east of Dunewood, where you’ll find three narrow wooden walks and 22 houses. Walk farther east to three concrete walks, which earmark a community of 60 houses, many of which were part of a real estate development spearheaded by Eddie Robbins some 60 years ago. Lonelyville was founded in 1908 by three businessmen friends from Bay Shore, New York, and is now a mix of old timers and young families. Stretching one long north-south block from ocean to bay, Lonelyville offers a relaxed environment with friendly people who meet on the walks going to the beach or to view the sunset on the dock at the bay. One gets to Lonelyville by ferry to Dunewood or Atlantique, and the nearest commercial area is Fair Harbor to the west and Ocean Beach to the east. 

Atlantique

Atlantique is the home of one of Fire Island’s best public beaches and marina, operated by the Town of Islip, with public showers and bathroom facilities. It extends the width of the island, from the large bay marina to the beach. Midway, you’ll find the Shack, a fun restaurant that is open morning til night. Only 16 homes are located in Atlantique and they are widely dispersed across a wide section of the island. The Islip town marina and recreational facility is situated on a town park that extends across the width of the barrier island, from the bay to the ocean.

Robbins Rest

Robbins Rest, a Hamlet in the Town of Islip, lies between the Village of Ocean Beach and Atlantique. Inland access to Robbins Rest is through the Burma Road, a sand path that winds through the two undeveloped Fire Island National Seashore tracts that surround the community. There are 37 homes in Robbins Rest that are set along Sextant Walk and Compass Walk, the two north south walks within the community.  Robbins Rest has no water taxi, ferry or commercial services in or to the community.

Summer Club

Fire Island Summer Club is comprised of a 750-foot strip of bay-to-ocean land just west of Ocean Beach. On this land, 42 homeowners have built homes in a unique condominium community that affords privacy and a lifestyle protected from development. The quietude of Summer Club contrasts noticeably with the markets, shops, restaurants, and busy marinas found in nearby Ocean Beach. This proximity means Summer Club residents can enjoy the best of both worlds—the serenity of their community, with a bustling town just minutes away. A distinctive red-roofed landmark with original Coast Guard watch tower, the community association Clubhouse is the center of activity for Summer Club residents. Members enjoy exclusive access to a private bay beach with boat mooring, a gym and play area, and beautifully maintained Har-Tru tennis courts.

Corneille Estates

Characterized as a quieter, “family” community of 65 homes bordering on the west of Ocean Beach, Corneille is two blocks wide and includes the Woodhull School. Without shops or restaurants, the attraction of this neighborhood is its larger properties and pristine beachfront. It has one bay-to-ocean walk, known locally as Clipper Walk and one inner labyrinth walk, called Frigate. Clipper is unique to most other walks across Fire Island in that it is a boardwalk, with elevation changes that follow the ground topography. Frigate, however, functions an internal walk, accessible from Corneille’s eastern boundary. Surf Road provides access to a dozen or so homes not readily accessible from Clipper. With no public facilities and a strict no food or beverage policy, daily visitors may find this community less appealing than other beaches on the National Seashore.

Ocean Beach

The incorporated Village of Ocean Beach was established in 1921 when Ocean Beach and the neighboring community of Stay-a-While Estates merged to form what is now Fire Island’s largest community and the closest thing to a commercial hub for the island. Ocean Beach has approximately 600 homes and a well-established Downtown area which offers a wide variety of shops and restaurants and is adjacent to both a large Village Green and the Bayfront. The Village has completed significant infrastructure improvements and now boasts a beautiful new ferry terminal, a fully rehabilitated “Windswept,” which is home to the Ocean Beach Youth Group, a full-service summer day camp and other adult activities including Game Night, Sunset Happy Hour and lots more. Ocean Beach also has a large Community House used for a variety of activities including Village meetings, FIA meetings, environmental presentations, a town Pot Luck dinner, and daily fitness and yoga classes. A ballfield, tennis court, basketball court, bayfront playground and both bay and ocean swimming areas with lifeguard coverage ensure lots of activities for kids of all ages.

Ocean Beach is proud to have many well established volunteer organizations including the 70-member Ocean Beach Fire Department, which serves many communities and puts on the July 4th Picnic on the Ballfield and the Labor Day Pancake Breakfast and several community events during the winter months. The Ocean Beach Association hosts annual membership meetings, Candidates Forums for local elections of Mayor, four Trustees and Village Justice, Sunset Happy Hour and the Pot Luck dinner. And the Ocean Beach Community Fund sponsors many fundraising and other activities including the July 4th Children’s Parade, the Town Dance, August Art Fair, dock concerts and more. The Village of Ocean Beach is well equipped to serve both residents and visitors with a full time, year-round police force, volunteer emergency services, and both bay and ocean lifeguards.is the home of one of Fire Island’s best public beaches and marina, operated by the Town of Islip, with public showers and bathroom facilities. It extends the width of the island, from the large bay marina to the beach. Midway, you’ll find the Shack, a fun restaurant that is open morning til night. Only 16 homes are located in Atlantique and they are widely dispersed across a wide section of the island. The Islip town marina and recreational facility is situated on a town park that extends across the width of the barrier island, from the bay to the ocean.

Seaview

Seaview’s community grew out of a fish processing business area in the late 19th century. Today, there are approximately 360 houses with a market, a liquor store and a nursery. It is, however, a very short walk to Ocean Beach and Ocean Bay Park, two of the liveliest towns on Fire Island. The Seaview Association owns and maintains the sidewalks, marina, beaches, water system, children’s playground an d wading pool, tennis courts, ball field, and other common areas.

Ocean Bay Park

Ocean Bay Park is a multi-generational family community with just under 300 homes, some dating back to the 1930s. OBP’s grouper history has given way to an owner- occupied community of young families and young-at-heart retirees; access to restaurants and food stores enable families to spend the entire summer in Ocean Bay Park. Many families weekend there from April through November and a small but growing number live in OBP year-round. A motel and a hotel bring short-term guests; and weddings on our beautiful beach are becoming the fall season norm. Our highly rated fire, EMS and police departments provide year-round protection.  

Recreational sports are popular with two commercial tennis courts, a bicycle shop and a nearby softball field. Year-round surf casting, surfing and boogie boarding is welcomed while in-season small boat sailing and kayaking remain popular bay side sports. There are no lifeguards in Ocean Bay Park; however, neighboring communities Seaview and Ocean Beach do have full time lifeguards in season.

Ten blocks long and two blocks wide, OBP is hamlet of the Town of Brookhaven with an active homeowner association (OBPA) that maintains relationships with governing bodies impacting the quality of life. As an island community isolated from typical mainland services, we host a big Community Fair with something for everyone and a now famous silent auction to raise monies that help offset and defray expenses for services not covered by the Town of Brookhaven. Only emergency and restricted service vehicles are permitted in season making this a very safe place for the young and old. 

Visitors, renters and homeowners enjoy an active commercial bay front with two restaurants, a grocery store, liquor store, ice cream parlor, pizza store and deli; tennis courts and racquets can be rented as well as bicycles. A new full-service nursery assists the growing number of residents who have taken up gardening.

 Visit  www.obpassociation.org

Cherry Grove

Often referred to as “The Grove,” Cherry Grove, along with the neighboring community of Fire Island Pines, are two of the most famous LGBT communities in the United States. Cherry Grove is thought to be the oldest inhabited resort area on Fire Island, with many small cottages along a single walk by 1920. In the late 1920s, the area attracted many people in theater and the arts from New York City, and through subsequent decades grew to become an important and popular resort for LGBT summer vacationers. Over those years, Cherry Grove has been the summer home been or visited by such luminaries as W.H. Auden, Tennessee Williams and Tallulah Bankhead. In recent years, it has hosted performances by Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Debbie Reynolds and Carol Channing. The community is relatively small with under 300 homes and a commercial district of stores, hotels, restaurants and bars that boast a vibrant nightlife.

Cherry Grove also has a volunteer fire department, emergency medical service and walk-in health clinic. In 2012, the Cherry Grove Community House and Theater received “historic” designations by both New York State and the National Register of Historic Places as the “oldest gay theater in the United States.” Cherry Grove is also the location of the “Invasion,” an annual July Fourth ferry trek by hundreds of drag queens from the Grove to the Pines to commemorate the 1976 refusal of a Pines bar to serve a customer in drag. The beautiful beach and crisscross of verdant boardwalks remain its most attractive feature.

For more information, please visit the Cherry Grove Community Association website, cgcai.org.

The Pines

 Fire Island Pines is a predominantly gay community, approximately 1.5 miles long, with 650 residences, including approximately 550 single-family houses and 100 co-op apartments. Located between Cherry Grove and Water Island, the community dates back to 1876, when the Coast Guard built a station called, “Lone Hill.” Before it was developed as a family retreat in 1950s, it was a haven for bohemians and nudists, attracting squatters, artists and writers, most of whom camped in small shacks. Today, the Pines boasts notable architecture and modernist homes, with a harbor “downtown” that includes several restaurants and bars, a liquor store, clothing stores, a flower store, and a hotel. Throughout the season, the community hosts fundraisers for social causes, acclaimed music and dance festivals, and diverse events at Whyte Hall, its community center. In July, the Pines draws thousands of residents and visitors to Pines Party, its premier beach party and fundraiser, and The Invasion, when drag queens from Cherry Grove “invade” the Pines for a day-long celebration of pride and unity.

Visit www.fippoa.org

Water Island

Located east of the Talisman/Barrett Beach area, Water Island is a quiet, diverse and welcoming community of 50 homes.  The Water Island Association of homeowners and long time renters supports a seasonal dock which allows for ferry service on weekends provided by Sayville Ferry.  There are no other public services.  The community hosts a semi-annual art show in August.  It is one of the oldest communities on the island, site of two hotels in the 19th century and also known for rum running activities during the Prohibition era.

Davis Park

Davis Park is the easternmost of the Fire Island residential communities, with a glorious ocean beach and bay surrounded by miles of natural dunes and the Otis Pike Wilderness Area. Swimming, surfing, kayaking, paddleboarding, sailing, clamming, crabbing and surf casting are popular activities. We are a short boardwalk stroll through the dunes to the FINS Watch Hill facility with its nature walk and Ranger-guided events. Bisected by the Town of Brookhaven Marina, lifeguarded Town beach and Trustees Walk — home of the Harbor Store and Snackbar, Fire Department, Post Office, Casino Cafe and CasBar (no gambling but great oceanfront dining and dancing) — the Davis Park area lies to the West and Ocean Ridge area to the East. Some 270 homes are enjoyed by families and renters from Long Island, the City and Metropolitan Area, with ferries from March through November leaving from Patchogue, a stop on the LIRR. Our boardwalks are for walking — no bikes here. Our DP Medical Association provides a facility for non-critical care served by volunteer doctors in residence. Our very active Fire Department and community associations, the DPA and Community Recreation, Arts & Beautification (CRAB), as well as other community volunteers,  throw a great July 4th parade and bbq, hold plant sales, raffles, swap meets and other community events, including a popular Arts & Crafts Fair, and work on beautification projects throughout the season. Visit www.davispark.org for more information.