{"nrhp_refnum":"81000082","name":"Fire Island Light Station","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Robert Moses Causeway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bay Shore","county":"Suffolk County","state":"NY","lat":40.63214137800003,"lon":-73.21853125499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1981-09-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Engineering","Maritime History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A lighthouse station on Fire Island, a barrier island off Long Island's southern coast, in the vicinity of Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York. It has a brick lighthouse tower completed in 1858 and a keeper's residence completed in 1859, both on a raised stone terrace.","why_significant":"The 1858 tower replaced an 1826 light and was taller and more powerful than neighboring lights, serving as the first landfall for ships approaching New York harbor. The form describes it as the most important light station on the East Coast. It also notes the tower's curved profile and original Doric details, and the keepers' non-navigational roles on the island.","narrative":"Fire Island Light Station sits about five miles east of the western end of Fire Island, a barrier island south of Long Island. The complex includes a 140-foot brick lighthouse tower finished in 1858 and a granite-faced keeper's residence completed in 1859, both on a stone terrace built from material salvaged from the first lighthouse of 1826. The tower has a curved profile, a cast iron central column, and a spiral staircase. It was striped black and white and coated in concrete in 1912. It replaced the earlier light, which stood nearer the inlet before the island's westward drift left the site miles away. The new tower was 80 feet taller and more powerful than its predecessor. As New York grew into the leading transatlantic port, this became the first landfall for arriving ships and a guide past a dangerous offshore shoal. Keepers also acted as informal local leaders and innkeepers. The Coast Guard decommissioned the station in 1974.","period_of_significance":"1858-59","architect_builder":"J.T. Morton, construction supv.","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Decommissioned by the Coast Guard in 1974; condition marked fair, and the form's status boxes show it as both occupied and unoccupied.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.286332-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/81000082.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000082/682b566cff-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/81000082/682b566cff-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Don Fick","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_Island_Light_Station_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Don Fick</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fire_Island_Light_Station_1.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"09001288","name":"Fire Island Light Station Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/fire-island-light-station-historic-district-boundary-increase-09001288/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322102","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_Island_Lighthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5451374"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/suffolk-county/fire-island-light-station-81000082/"}