Montauk Point Lightfall

Abstract

Montauk Point is the eastern most land mass on Long Island, New York and as such, of strategic importance for both navigation and communication. There has always been a lightfall at this point; in pre-revolutionary war eras, fires provided the light, later a light house was erected after the establishment of an independent government. As the land forms a point, a promontory reaching into the Atlantic Ocean, the lights identified the presence of dangerous rocks at the end of the point as well as the path of safe passage north and south of the rocks. The lightfall saved lives that would have been lost from shipwrecks and preserved valuable cargo along this busy north south shipping venue. The lights served another purpose, that of communication. A series of lights stretching along the eastern coast could signal warnings or calls to congregate, thus protecting the area from unanticipated invaders and uniting disparate tribes living in what is now the eastern coast of the USA. After the establishment of the American independence, the first president, George Washington, commissioned a lighthouse to be constructed on the site, where it stands today.