Landmarks

New York's Long Island is long on history from land to sea! Ralph Brady covers well known and unknown sites, events, homes, places and people.

Everyone lucky enough to live on Long Island already knows that it's like nowhere else in the world. From lighthouses and a one-hundred-year-old carousel to World War II camps and missile sites, Long Island native Ralph Brady reveals the secrets to what makes this little-big island so special with a tour of some of Nassau and Suffolk's most historic locations. Walt Whitman, William Vanderbilt, Theodore Roosevelt and many others occupied remarkable homes around the island. Charles Lindbergh made his historic flight to France from what is now a shopping mall. For many years, a Long Island factory gave the world the game of Scrabble. Even the waters teem with history, with the modern submarine making its start off the coast. Come explore these and other settings from Long Island's past.

The first Fire Island Lighthouse was constructed in 1826 after numerous shipwrecks along the barrier island. A replacement tower built in 1858 incorporated innovations in lighthouse design such as the Fresnel lens. Vessels anchored offshore, known as lightships, augmented the lighthouse for many years. The Coast Guard shut down the site in 1973. Through the efforts of the Fire Island Lighthouse Preservation Society and the National Park Service, the beautiful structure was meticulously restored and the tower relit in 1986. Along with a selection of wonderful color photographs depicting the grandeur of the lighthouse, author Bill Bleyer charts the history of Long Island's cherished Fire Island Lighthouse.

Read the remarkable story of one of the most unique and picturesque places in the Adirondacks, written by Sagamore's director, Beverly Bridger.

Great Camp Sagamore was built by renowned American architect William West Durant and bought by Alfred Vanderbilt in 1901 to be his family's Adirondack retreat. Vanderbilt and his wife, Margaret, welcomed family and friends, who enjoyed its sprawling grounds and elegant yet rustic buildings for decades. After Margaret's death, the camp changed hands and began to decline until it was rescued by preservationists, finally became a National Historic Landmark in 2000 after attentive restoration efforts. Today, visitors to the camp participate in maintaining its grandeur, learning about and preserving the past.

Acorn Hall has always been a home. In 1852, Dr. John Schermerhorn conceived the sprawling estate and mansion, and he spent four years decorating it in a lavish Rococo style. Banker Augustus Crane later bought the estate and mansion, had it redesigned and rechristened it Acorn Hall, and it remained in his family through two world wars and numerous financial crises. Mary Crane Hone donated the landmark to the Morris County Historical Society in 1971. After its devoted members lovingly restored the hall, it became a focal point for the community and a beautiful setting for the society's collections. Today, it is imbued with a sense of purpose, tradition and reverence for the past. Local historian Jude Pfister tells the remarkable story of Morris County, New Jersey's Acorn Hall.