There's dozens of lighthouses dotting the waters of the Long Island Sound. Eight of them are offshore in the Town of Southold and, according to East End Lighthouses, this makes Southold the Lighthouse Capital of the United States.

You wouldn't have thought the waters of Long Island, not exactly a metropolitan area in the 1800s, would require such an extensive system, but it supplied water access to parts of Connecticut, and New York State. Of course if you wanted to ship goods to and from New York City the water offered an alternative to overland hauling.

Plum Island Light
Looking more like a one-room school house than a guardian of the water, this 131 year old granite lighthouse, put in service in 1869, marked the treacherous waters off the western point of Plum Island. East End Lighthouses has made the preservation, restoration, and relighting of this historic lighthouse its priority project.

Orient Point Lighthouse
Known as the Coffee Pot because of its design in the shape of a truncated cone, it was built in 1899. There was actually a lighthouse-keeper here until the 1960s when the lighthouse became automated. It was eventually declared unsafe, and not worth the cost of repairing. East End Lighthouses disagreed and has worked to repair and maintain this example of a cast iron caisson.

Little Gull Lighthouse
The waters where the Long Island Sound and Block Island Sound meet are treacherous and in 1806 the Federal government wanted to provide a navigational aid. The British took it over temporarily during 1813, as part of the military operations known as the War of 1812, forced the keeper to extinguish the light, and then removed the lamps to prevent relighting. The version we see today was rebuilt in 1868.

Race Rock Lighthouse
This is a gothic charmer built in Gothic Revival style. It almost looks like a house you might see down the road. Built as a result of the numerous shipwrecks, it wasn't completed until 1878 and is one of the last masonry lighthouses on wave swept, or water bound sites. In fact, it's really built on a artificially created underwater ledge. One of the engineers Francis Hopkinson Smith also built the foundation for the Statue of Liberty.

North Dumpling Lighthouse
This two-story red-brick lighthouse (shown at the top of the page) is one of the few privately owned lighthouses. The owner is reputed to have his own Navy and currency and is sometimes affectionately called Lord Dumpling II. We think it would make a fine B&B, should the present owner decide to put his Navy and his house to another use.

Latimer Reef Lighthouse
Remember the Orient Point Lighthouse, the cast-iron one called the Coffee Pot? The Latimer Reef Lighthouse, built in 1844 and also of cast-iron, could then be the oldest Coffee Pot still in service.

Gardiner's Island Lighthouse
This lighthouse can't actually be seen. It was built in 1854 only 33 feet above sea level, and on an unstable sand bar. Less than 40 years later, beach erosion had put the structure in danger. While people debated what to do about the lighthouse, the storm of 1894 destroyed it. Thus ending the controversy, and the lighthouse.

Cedar Island Lighthouse
Another charmer, although a bit on the austere and imposing side, this is considered to be an excellent example of the Boston granite style of architecture. Although there's barely a tree in sight, once upon a time a grove of cedar trees graced the land.

Long Beach Bar "Bug" Lighthouse.
Imagine a Victorian house with a tower and you've envisioned the "Bug" lighthouse, named because at high tide the original lighthouse looked like a giant water bug. Sadly, the original structure was destroyed by arsonists in 1963 but the reconstructed lighthouse has been designated as a Federal Aid to Navigation. Perhaps the most amazing thing about the lighthouse was that it was completed in only 60 days. The 250 millimeter, solar powered light, 63 feet above the water, was rededicated in 1990. If you're wondering about the speed with which it was rebuilt -- it was constructed in 3 pieces, hauled to the site. and assembled in less than a day. Astounding at least one boat captain who left in the morning with no lighthouse, and returned to find one standing serenely in the water on the return trip.