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 . Here you may learn about the Revolutionary period, Long Island's settlement and its early estate and plantation economy.
