Fire Island

On Sunday afternoon, my parents and I drove about an hour out to Fire Island. Fire Island, a barrier island 32 miles long, is located in Suffolk County on the southern side of Long Island. Its roots go back to 1653, when Isaac Stratford of Babylon constructed a whaling station on the island and named it Whalehouse Point. Stratford and crew would haul boats across the sand island to the ocean and builds towers from which men could watch for the spouting of a whale. Later in 1825, the federal government constructed a lighthouse at the western tip of the island. The Fire Island Light was an important landmark for transatlantic ships coming into New York Harbor at the turn of the last century.

Since cars are not allowed on the island, visitors can take the Fire Island Ferry, or pilot a private boat or water taxi. On Sunday, my parents and I chose another route- which is to drive to Field 5 at Robert Moses Beach, and walk on the narrow boardwalk to the Lighthouse. The boardwalk winds through bushes and other shrubbery, as well as tall thickets of beach grass. The nice thing about the boardwalk is that there's more than one, so you can take your time walking and get lost in the great atmosphere. With the great variety of vegetation and animal life, there's no wonder that Fire Island is a hot spot for vacation homes.

For the visitors and natives alike there is so much to do on Fire Island. Whether you want to partake in hiking, camping, birdwatching, swimming, surfing, boating, fishing, biking, wagoning or clamming (clams are to Fire Island what maple syrup is to Vermont), Fire Island has it all.