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Long Island's Lighthouse Heritage
The island of
Long Island,
inclusive of Kings, Queens, Nassau and
Suffolk Counties, has a vast
lighthouse heritage:
- Over 30 lighthouses have been built
in the Long Island area since 1796.
- Suffolk County,
America's Lighthouse
County,
has more lighthouses than any other county in the United States.
- Southold Township has
more lighthouses than any other township in the United States.
- Several local lighthouses have been
lost, are endangered, or are no longer available to the public:
- The beautiful, grand, and
historically important
Shinnecock
Lighthouse was demolished in 1948, but could have been
saved by public support.
- The original Lloyd Harbor
Lighthouse (See
Save Huntington's Lighthouse) was destroyed by fire in 1947, but
would probably still be standing on Lloyd Neck had there been a group
caring for it.
- The
Sands Point Lighthouse, while
still in existence on private property, could have been preserved in a historically
correct manner and could be part of a public park today had the support been there in the
1920s.
- The same goes for the Cold Spring
Harbor Lighthouse, which now resides on private property after being decommissioned in
1965.
- The
Cedar Island Lighthouse was
gutted by fire in 1974 and has sat as an empty shell ever since, its oak interior and the
stories it contained a distant memory.
- The
Plum Island Lighthouse sits on
federal property, threatened by neglect and erosion since it was decommissioned in 1978.
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