Landmarks Gone With the Wind

By Rhoda Amon | Staff Writer

ON THE PATH called Burma Road that leads from the communities of Saltair and Kismet to the Fire Island Lighthouse, hikers today see mostly sand, sky and grazing deer.

But the ghosts of former lives and landmarks linger on the sands of the Fire Island National Seashore. J. Donald Doughty, 83, of Jamesport remembers summers as a youngster at the Western Union Telegraph Station southeast of the lighthouse. His father, Joseph Doughty, came to the station in 1897 and transmitted ship sightings to New York City newspapers until 1920, when he was transferred to the city.

The tower, built in 1868-70, was abandoned around 1929, according to park ranger Maria Wagenbrenner. With its top stories removed, the building served briefly as a summer cottage before being swept away by the great hurricane of 1938.

Camp Cheerful, called "a camp for crippled boys," was established by the New York City Rotarians in 1926. It, too, was leveled in the 1938 hurricane and never rebuilt, said Russell Mayer, who researched a Fire Island history. West of Kismet there was also the Surf Hotel, a popular 19th-Century resort, since demolished. The lighthouse still stands.

Today, a lone park ranger checks the fencing of the Eastern Wildlife Enclosure north of the Burma Road. The fence keeps out deer so that researchers can determine if deer ticks are transmitted by birds and other wildlife, says park superintendent Constantine Dillon.