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HomeMy WebLinkAbout.Guardians of the way Lighthouse History by Amy Folk, Southold Town Historian Guardians of the way… By Amy Folk During the Ice Age, Long Island and the islands scattered around it were created by deposits of rocks and gravel left behind by the melting sheets of ice. In addition to creating the land, the glaciers also littered the waters around Long Island with thousands of rocks and other navigational hazards. Most communities were located along the shoreline and Long Islanders found that travel by water was the quickest and best way to move from place to place. Travel on the Sound was so convenient, that roads connecting settlements on the Western and Eastern parts 1 of the Island were for many years left rough and relatively undeveloped. For commercial reasons as well as for the safety of its citizens, the movement to mark navigational hazards along the frequently used routes quickly became a priority of the new government of the United States. In 1789, the Federal government passed the Lighthouse Act paving the way for the establishment of 2 lighthouses across Long Island and its surrounding waters. th Lighthouse keepers, in addition to tending the lights, regularly assisted wrecked or stranded mariners. During the 19 century most keepers extended the regulations about aiding stranded sailors to include helping groups of tourists who had braved the rocky coastlines. Although the job of light keeping was fairly well paid, keepers often entertained passengers and crews of passing ships for the extra income. Visiting fishing and hunting groups who stopped by the lights often would join the keepers and their families for a 3 meal or overnight stay. The Lighthouse Board, recognizing that catering to tourists was a sideline business that they could not 4 control, made it a point to instructed its employees that no alcohol was allowed to be sold on lighthouse grounds. As time and technology advanced, the Lighthouse Service worked to electrify all the lights along Long Island’s shore. In 1939, the 5 United States Coast Guard took over the running of the nation’s lighthouses. Keepers were given the choice of either remaining a civilian employee or converting to military status. In the 1960s, the Coast Guard began to automate the lighthouses, usually by building a separate, exterior skeleton tower outside the old masonry buildings. Despite the strong historic and sentimental attachment they often generate, lighthouses are expensive to maintain and most of the nation’s beacons and signals have now been automated. In 2000, Congress passed the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act to create a process for transferring federally owned historic lighthouses that were deemed “excess to service requirements” into private hands. If no historical or not-for-profit organizations step forward to assume responsibility for it, the General Services Administration will put a lighthouse up for sale at auction. With more lighthouses than any other community in the nation, all of the lighthouses in 6 Southold Town except the Plum Island Light are in the hands of not-for-profit organizations or private owners. 1 W.W. Munsell, History of Suffolk County, New York (New York, NY: W.W. Munsell & Co. 1882) 43. 2 Richard Peters ed., Public Statues at Large of the United States of America (Boston, MA: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1845) 53. 3 Ruthann Bramson, Geoffrey K. Fleming & Amy Kasuga Folk, A World Unto Itself (Southold, NY: Southold Historical Society. 2014) 89. 4 Light-House Board of the United States, Instructions and Directions Light-House and Light-vessel Keepers of the United States (Washington, DC: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1856) 5-9, 14-16, 40-44. 5 Robert G. Muller, Long Island’s Lighthouses Past and Present (Patchogue, NY: Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society, 2004) 19. 6 Annette Hinkle, Historic Lights Keep Shining in Memories (Sag Harbor, NY: Sag Harbor Express, March 20, 2003) 7. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Bramson, Ruthann, Fleming, Geoffrey K. & Folk, Amy Kasuga. A World Unto Itself: The Remarkable History of Plum Island, New York. Southold, New York: Southold Historical Society, 2014. Hamilton, Harlan. Lights & Legends. Stamford, Connecticut: Wescott Cove Publishing Company, 1987. Hinkle, Annette. "Historic Lights Keep Shining in Memories." Sag Harbor Express, March 20, 2003: 7. Keatts, Henry and Farr, George. The Bell Tolls: Shipwrecks & Lighthouses vol. 2 Eastern Long Island. Laurel, New York: Main Road books, Inc. , 2002. Muller, Robert G. Long Island's Lighthouses Past and Present. Patchogue, New York: Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society, 2004. Munsell, W.W. History of Suffolk County, New York. New York, New York: W.W. Munsell & Co. , 1882. Peters, Richard ed. The Public Statutes at large of the United States of America. Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1845. States, Light-House Board of the United. Instructions and Directions Light-House and Light-vessel Keepers of the United States. Washington, D.C.: A.O.P. Nicholson, 1856.