Cedar Point County Park is a park in East Hampton,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, owned by the

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Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's populatio ...

. It has commanding views of

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and is famed for its decommissioned

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

History

Settled in 1651, Cedar Point was once a busy port for shipping farm goods, fish, and timber from Sag Harbor. The historic Cedar Point Lighthouse stood on an island 200 yards from shore when it was built in 1839. Its beacon served to guide whaling ships in and out of Sag Harbor during its hey-day as a major port. The

New England Hurricane of 1938 The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The storm ...

transformed the shoreline, shifting sands to create a narrow, walkable strip that now connects the lighthouse with the mainland. The 40 foot granite lighthouse which was built in 1868 was decommissioned in 1934 and replaced by an automatic light on a steel skeleton at breakwater. ''See also:'' The lighthouse, built in the

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

. Virtually the entire park including the lighthouse was owned at one time by

Phelan Beale Phelan Beale (May 23, 1881 – June 12, 1956) was an American attorney and sportsman in New York City who was married to Edith Ewing Bouvier, an aunt of Jacqueline Bouvier Onassis. Beale is probably best remembered as the absent father chronicl ...

, husband of

Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale (October 5, 1895 – February 5, 1977) was an American socialite and singer known for her reclusive and eccentric lifestyle. Known as Big Edie, she was a sister of John Vernou Bouvier III and an aunt of Jacqueline ...

, whose dissolved marriage was the topic of movie, television and Broadway versions of

Grey Gardens ''Grey Gardens'' is a 1975 American documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. The film depicts the everyday lives of two reclusive, upper-class women, a mother and daughter both named Edith Beale, who lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, a der ...

. It operated as a

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called the Grey Goose Gun Club of Cedar Point. and was acquired by Suffolk County in 1967. The lodge itself is now the park foreman's residence just north of the park's general store. During the 1970s a small bush plane crash landed in the waters near the point. A father and son were killed instantly when their plane hit the water. The bodies were brought back to Coecles Harbor, Shelter Island and most of the plane parts were found and also brought back to Coecles. In 1974 vandals burned the interior of the lighthouse. The Long Island Chapter of the United States Lighthouse Society is currently working to restore the Cedar Island Lighthouse. They are seeking $2 million to convert it to a museum and bed and breakfast. Part of the plan includes restoring the lantern.

References

External links

Cedar Island Lighthouse

Suffolk County Park Site

{{EastHamptonNY County parks in New York (state) East Hampton (town), New York Beale family Parks in Suffolk County, New York