Light Hearted ep 304 – Jonathon Gaare, Fire Island, NY

Light Hearted

Fire Island Light Station, New York. Photo by Jeremy D’Entremont.

Fire Island is one of a chain of barrier islands running along the south shore of Long Island, New York. The first lighthouse on Fire Island was a 74-foot-high stone tower built in 1826. It was considered too short, so the much taller brick lighthouse that still stands was built in 1858. The new tower was fitted with a powerful first-order Fresnel lens. For many years, the flash of the Fire Island Lighthouse was the first sight of land for countless European immigrants coming to America. Fire Island Lighthouse was decommissioned as an aid to navigation on December 31, 1973.

The first-order Fresnel lens that was once in service in Fire Island Lighthouse is now displayed in a separate building on the grounds.

Jonathon Gaare in 2020, when he interned as a seasonal Park Ranger Interpreter at the Fire Island National Seashore.

The Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society was formed in 1982. Four years later, on Memorial Day in 1986, the lighthouse returned to duty as an aid to navigation. Today, visitors can tour the museum in the keeper’s house, with two floors of exhibits. Visitors can also view the old first-order Fresnel lens, which is on display in a separate building. The guest in this episode, Jonathon Gaare, became the executive director of the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society earlier this year.