HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlum Island Light
Lighthouse Histories by Amy Folk, Southold Town Historian
Plum Island Light
Built 1869
Plum Gut, a narrow channel of water between Orient Point and Plum Island had long been
recognized as a hazard to ships. Local representatives in Congress successfully gained
government funding to erect a lighthouse in May 1826. No time was wasted in getting the
project underway three acres of land were almost immediately purchased on the
southwestern tip of Plum Island. As soon as the local lighthouse superintendent Henry
Thomas Dering was notified that the land had changed hands, he began advertising for
builders. A plain, white thirty–five foot octagonal stone tower was erected along with an
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eight room cottage for the keeper.
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The construction was completed by 1827, and on November 10 the light became fully
operational. Henry Thomas Dering, in the newspapers, advised mariners passing through
the area to, “…run boldly for the bluff on which the light house stands, the danger being
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principally from Oyster Ponds Point, and a small reef off that point.” By 1840, due to the
inferior materials used in the original construction the Plum Island Lighthouse was starting
From the author's collection
to deteriorate. In the fall, the government hired a repair contractor, Joseph P. Lamb, to
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work on repairs and to paint the structure. In an effort to update the Plum Island Lighthouse in 1856, the Lighthouse Board
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replaced the old light with a modern sixth-order Fresnel lens.
Eventually the government decided that the old tower was not worth saving and a new lighthouse was built. The new light was
completed in 1869, and cost about eleven thousand dollars. It was one of five lights on Long Island Sound where the keeper’s cottage
and the light tower were integrated together. The new structure was built out of a light-colored stone in a Victorian-gothic revival
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style. A short time after the new light became operational the original tower was taken down. Even with the new lighthouse and the
improvements to the light, the area still experienced a number of shipwrecks.
In 1885, the federal government decided to clamp down on the light keeper’s traditional sideline business of tourism. Officials were
worried that the fishing and hunting parties were taking up too much of the keepers’ time and attention. On 15 January, the head
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keeper noted in his logbook that government engineers arrived and “…commenced tearing down the old dwelling.”
Plum Island’s light was converted to electricity sometime prior to 1940. In 1978, the Coast Guard automated the Plum Island light by
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setting up a light tower outside the old building, and the 1867 building was deactivated.
Today the Plum Island Light is the only light in Southold Town still owned by the Federal Government. The structure is a historic
landmark and remains a mute reminder of the dangers of the waters that surround it.
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“Fair Value Appraisal Report, Fort Terry, Plum Island, Town of Southold, County of Suffolk, State of new York,” copy held by the Oysterponds Historical
Society, Orient, Suffolk county, New York; and H.C.A., “Plum Island Fifty Years Ago,” 3 September 1908, unpublished, original held by the Oysterponds
Historical Society, Orient, Suffolk County, New York.’ And Muller, 142-145; and “Plum Island, NY” http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=743,
Accessed July 2018.
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“Collector’s Office,” unidentified newspaper clipping, 1827, original held by the Oysterponds Historical Society, Orient, Suffolk County, New York.
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Henry Conklin, “Plum Island Book,” unpublished manuscript, original held by the Oysterponds Historical Society Collection, Orient, Suffolk County, New York,
20.
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“Plum Island, NY” http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=743, Accessed July 2018.
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“Appropriations,” New York Daily Tribune, 8 March 1869.
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William Whiting Wetmore & William Walker Wetmore, Plum Island Lighthouse Log-book, unpublished manuscript, original held in a private collection,
Southold, Suffolk County, New York, 15 January 1885.
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“Plum Island (Plum Gut) Light,” Historic Light Station Information & Photography New York, http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHNY.asp, Accessed
Summer 2013; and Diane Plows, “P.I. Light To Go Dark,” Suffolk Times, 23 March 1978.
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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.
Conklin, Henry. "Plum Island Book." 20. unpublished manuscript, original held at the Oysterponds Historical Society Collection, Orient, Suffolk
County, New York, n.d.
"Fair Value Appraisal Report - Fort Terry, Plum Island, town of Southold, County of Suffolk, State of New York." Copy held by the Oysterponds
Historical Society, Orient, Suffolk County, New York, c1948.
H.C.A. "Plum Island Fifty Years Ago." unpublished, original held by the Oysterponds Historical Society, Orient, Suffolk County, New York,
September 3, 1908.
Muller, Robert G. Long Island's Lighthouses Past and Present. Patchogue, New York: Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society, 2004.
New York Daily Tribune. "Appropriations." March 8, 1869.
Plum Island (Plum Gut) Light Historic Light Station Information & Photography New York. n.d.
http://www.uscg.mil/history/weblighthouses/LHNY.asp (accessed Summer 2013).
unidentified newspaper clipping. "Collector's Office." 1827: original held by the Oysterponds Historical Society, Orient, Suffolk County, New
York.
Wetmore, William Whiting & Wetmore, William Walker. Plum Island Lighthouse Log-book. unpublished manuscript, original held in a private
collection, Southold, Suffolk County, New York, 15 January 1885.