Fire Island's maritime history precedes colonization of Long Island. Native Americans hunted and fished in the vicinity long before Colonial settlements were established. The economy and life patterns of residents have centered around the Great South Bay and Fire Island since the area was first settled.

The whaling industry, the era of the U. S. Life Saving Service, shipwrecks, habitation of the island, and the local fishing industry are some of the stories you may learn about at the Fire Island Lighthouse.

Fire Island has a long heritage of waterfowl hunting and the shellfishing industries on the Great South Bay. Hotels and resorts later followed on Fire Island.

Fire Island National Seashore also includes the ancestral home of one of New York's four signers of the Declaration of Independence: the William Floyd Estate. Here you may learn about the Revolutionary period, Long Island's  settlement and its early estate and plantation economy.

Learn More

Many local libraries and museums contain historic photographs and collections about Fire Island and the properties now included within Fire Island National Seashore.

• Shirley-Mastic-Moriches Community Library
  407 William Floyd Parkway Shirley, NY 11967
• • Local History
• South Country Library
  22 Station Road Bellport, NY 11713
• Patchogue-Medford Library
  54-60 East Main Street Patchogue, NY 11772
• • Local/Long Island History
• Sayville Community Library
  11 Collins Ave. Sayville, NY 11782
• • Historic Image Collection
• East Islip Public Library
  381 East Main Street East Islip, NY 11730
• • Local History
• Bayshore-Brightwaters Public Library
  1 South Country Road Brightwaters, NY 11718
• West Islip Community Library
  3 Higbie Lane West Islip, NY 11795
• Babylon Public Library
  24 South Carll Avenue Babylon, NY 11702
• • Digital Collection
• Suffolk Historic Newspapers
• Long Island Maps, Stony Brook University