Kismet: A Destination or Destiny?
From the Fire Island and South Bay News
By Christopher Verga Posted on August 12, 2025
The term Kismet is defined as destiny or fate. For local businessman and resident Sam Wood, his fate as a steward of history was 65 years in the making.
Through the so-called Magical History Tour (a walking tour that brings the community’s past to life) and the community’s last Memorial Day, new energy has been created for local appreciation of history.
Frank and Jean Wood, parents of Sam, discovered Kismet Fire Island in 1958, fell in love with the community, and purchased a building lot for $800.
“As a reporter for Newsday in the late 50s, my father was only making $50 the most a week,” said Sam Wood. “My parents had to remortgage their Port Washington house to build their Kismet home, an A-frame house.”
Frank and Jean Wood, parents of Sam, discovered Kismet Fire Island in 1958, fell in love with the community, and purchased a building lot for $800.
“As a reporter for Newsday in the late 50s, my father was only making $50 the most a week,” said Sam Wood. “My parents had to remortgage their Port Washington house to build their Kismet home, an A-frame house.”
This investment in peace of mind, away from the daily grind of work, will set the trend for Frank and Jean’s son, Sam, to develop a passion for local history throughout Fire Island. He continued to address the crowd.
“We are the newest historical society in Suffolk County. In the research, we discovered that Kismet has its origins in Brooklyn. Fred Weiss, owner of Crystal Steam Laundry of Bedford-Stuyvesant, visited and became inspired by the land that would become Kismet. Buying up the land, he developed the property in 1925. Weiss, a member of the Shriners fraternity (part of the Freemasons), named the new community after his Shriners meeting hall, Kismet Temple, located on Herkimer Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant,” explained Wood.
Weiss’s vision for a summer resort community was inspired by the successful development of its neighbor, Saltaire. Advertised throughout various New York City real estate companies, Saltaire attracted some of the city’s wealthiest individuals. The success of advertising increased the size of the development, leading to its incorporation as a village in 1917.
East of Saltaire, Ocean Beach, one of the largest of the Fire Island resort communities, would follow their lead.
“The summer home developments started with the 1878 legal settlement between Green v. Sammis. The Great Partition, a court-ordered subdivision, awarded multiple tracts of land, which were then put up for sale. John Wilber, who bought a tract and divided it into 1,000 square lots, marketed this community in the popular Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper in 1908 with the catch phrase: Where Health and Happiness go Hand in Hand, explained Ocean Beach Historical Society director Linna Salamone.
The culture of hospitality that paved the way for the resort communities was cultivated originally by Felix Dominy, one of the early Fire Island Lighthouse keepers. Opening a small inn close to modern-day Kismet, and later across the bay in Bay Shore, Dominy became renowned for the attentive service he provided. However, Dominy’s side hustle led to his ultimate discharge as a lighthouse keeper, which allowed him to devote himself to this interest in hospitality full-time.
Another turning point for Fire Island in becoming a summer destination was the Prohibition era. The popularity of many of these towns would grow due to Hell’s Kitchen gangster William “Big Bill” Dwyer and his Rum Row. A newly developed casino and hundreds of crates of booze smuggled in through Fire Island into the mainland redefined these communities as a party destination.
From the early days of their development to the present day, Fire Island’s small resort towns, such as Kismet, have attracted some of the most talented artists, actors, and business tycoons. However, the A-list celebrities are just a small part of history.
The most significant importance of preserving the local history of these resort communities lies not in who stayed where, but in the narrative of resilience.
“This community [Kismet] was developed in the aftermath of World War I, the peak of Prohibition, and four years before the Great Depression. Within less than ten years of the Great Depression, the entire island was devastated by the Hurricane of 1938; houses, boardwalks, and everything built were gone. Rebuilding from an economic and natural disaster within a decade, followed by slow redevelopment from World War II, Kismet’s success is against all odds,” explained Wood.
A 100th Birthday celebration is planned for Kismet on September 27. Festivities will include a parade of historic jeeps used as beach taxis, vintage Model A Fords, and antique fire trucks. In addition to the parade, various artifacts would be on display to help better understand the community’s origins. Mark your calendars.
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