New York’s only wilderness has no roads, no cars, and it’s 60 miles from Manhattan

Fire Island’s wild side is closer than you think

Sixty miles from Manhattan, a 32-mile barrier island sits off Long Island’s southern shore with no roads, no cars, and no traffic.

You get around on foot, by bike, or by pulling a small red wagon piled with groceries and beach gear.

Congress protected a 26-mile stretch of it as Fire Island National Seashore back in 1964, and what’s inside that protection spans centuries of history, a forest that shouldn’t exist where it does, and the only federally designated wilderness in New York State.

How a shipwreck coast became a national seashore

The waters off Fire Island were troubled for ships heading into New York Harbor. The shoals and currents claimed enough vessels that crews built a lighthouse here in 1826.

By 1908, the western end of the island became Fire Island State Park, the first state park on Long Island.

The real turning point came in the 1950s and 1960s, when local residents pushed back against development hard enough that Congress listened.

The seashore established in 1964 now takes in ocean and bay shoreline, dunes, salt marshes, and 17 communities.

Climb 182 steps inside the tallest lighthouse on Long Island

The Fire Island Lighthouse stands 168 feet tall, and getting to the top means climbing a narrow spiral staircase, all 182 steps of it.

When you come out at the observation gallery, you can see the Atlantic in one direction and the Great South Bay in the other, and on a clear day, the Manhattan skyline shows itself to the west.

The current tower first lit up on Nov. 1, 1858, replacing an 1826 original that crews decided was too short at 74 feet to warn ships reliably.

Inside, you can still see the original 1858 first-order Fresnel lens, made in France.

The community that saved the lighthouse from demolition

By the early 1980s, the lighthouse had been dark for almost a decade, decommissioned on Dec. 31, 1973, when a strobe light went up on a nearby water tower. The tower fell into serious disrepair.

Demolition was on the table. Local residents formed the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society in 1982, raised over $1.3 million, and brought the lighthouse back.

It was restored and relit as an active navigational aid in 1986. The Preservation Society still runs the lighthouse and its Keeper’s Quarters museum today.

Walk through a 300-year-old forest that hides behind the dunes

At Sailors Haven, a forest sits tucked behind tall sand dunes, low enough that it looks sunken from the beach side. That’s where the name comes from.

The Sunken Forest covers about 50 acres of American holly, sassafras, and shadbush trees, some of the hollies estimated to be around 300 years old based on core samples taken in the mid-1970s. A 1.5-mile boardwalk trail winds through the whole canopy.

New York’s Natural Heritage Program ranks this forest as globally rare.

Private citizens and The Nature Conservancy protected it from development in the 1950s before it was donated to the national seashore in 1966.

Five miles of open Atlantic beach at Robert Moses State Park

The western end of the island is where Robert Moses State Park runs five miles of ocean beach, with lifeguard-staffed swimming areas through the summer months. You can surf, boogie-board, or fish the shore.

An 18-hole pitch and putt golf course sits among native trees and beach vegetation, open April through November most years.

From the eastern lot at Field 5, a three-quarter-mile boardwalk trail connects directly to the Fire Island Lighthouse.

Ocean Beach, one of the island’s most family-friendly communities, keeps its beach free to access with no radios or amplified music allowed on the sand.

New York’s one and only federally designated wilderness

The Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness covers about 1,380 acres across a seven-mile stretch on the island’s eastern end, and it’s the only federally designated wilderness area in all of New York State.

Congress set it aside in 1980, naming it for the former New York congressman who helped create the national seashore. Inside, you’ll find pine forests, grassy wetlands, tall dunes, and undeveloped Atlantic beaches.

Two designated camping zones sit within the wilderness, both accessible on foot from Watch Hill or the Wilderness Visitor Center. Backcountry camping requires a permit.

Piping plovers nest here, and dolphins pass through in winter

Fire Island sits on the Atlantic Flyway and ranks as one of 40 Globally Important Bird Areas.

The island provides nesting ground for the piping plover, federally threatened and listed as endangered in New York State.

Year-round, you’ll spot red-tailed hawks, wild turkeys, eastern bluebirds, and black-capped chickadees. Spring and fall migration pulls warblers, vireos, and thrushes through the forests and marshes.

White-tailed deer move through the island regularly. Offshore, dolphins and pilot whales share the water, and harbor seals show up in winter.

Cast a line or paddle the bay on the calm north side

The Great South Bay runs along the island’s north side and gives you sheltered water for boating, crabbing, and clamming. Kayaking is available through the calm bay waters and along the salt marshes.

Surf fishing draws regulars to the ocean beaches, where bluefish, striped bass, and winter flounder are common catches. Marinas at Watch Hill and Sailors Haven operate from mid-May to mid-October.

Night fishing and seasonal four-wheel-drive beach vehicle access on the Outer Beach areas require permits, so plan ahead before you pack the gear.

Ocean Beach runs on boardwalks and no one’s in a rush

Ocean Beach is one of the most popular communities on Fire Island, and you reach it by ferry from Bay Shore. The streets here are wooden boardwalks, every one of them.

You walk from the ferry dock through a small village center with shops and restaurants, all of it on planks, none of it loud. The beach is free.

No radios on the sand.

The other communities along the island each run at their own pace, from the quiet residential feel of Saltaire and Kismet to the more remote reaches of Davis Park.

No city glow means the stars come out 60 miles from Manhattan

No cars means no headlights. Minimal development on the eastern end means little light pollution.

Fire Island sits 60 miles west of the city and still delivers night skies you won’t find anywhere on the mainland nearby. Robert Moses State Park issues stargazing permits for visitors who want to stay after sunset.

The wilderness areas and undeveloped beaches on the eastern end push the darkness even further. You get open sky, the sound of the ocean, and a view of the stars that the city buried decades ago.

A signer of the Declaration of Independence grew up here

The William Floyd Estate in Mastic Beach sits on the Long Island mainland, managed as part of Fire Island National Seashore.

William Floyd was born on the property in 1734 and became one of four New Yorkers to sign the Declaration of Independence.

His family’s connection to this land started in 1718, when Richard Floyd bought it, and eight generations of Floyds lived here until 1976.

The 25-room Old Mastic House holds architectural details and artifacts spanning three centuries. The grounds cover 613 acres with forest, marsh, trails, 12 outbuildings, and the family cemetery.

Getting to Fire Island, New York

You can reach Fire Island by ferry from three Long Island towns: Bay Shore, Sayville, and Patchogue, all accessible by the Long Island Rail Road.

Robert Moses State Park at the western end and the Smith Point area at the eastern end are both reachable by car, with parking fees at Robert Moses and access to the Otis Pike Wilderness Visitor Center at Smith Point.

The main season runs Memorial Day through Labor Day, but the lighthouse, wilderness areas, and Robert Moses State Park stay open year-round.

Check the official website for current ferry schedules and lighthouse hours before you go.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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