Cedar Island Lighthouse on Its Way to Becoming Bed & Breakfast

The Suffolk County Legislature has appropriated $500,000 to renovate the roof and exterior of East Hampton’s historic Cedar Island Lighthouse. The Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society and Friends of Cedar Island Lighthouse also announced their fundraising campaign to complete the exterior and the entire interior of the Cedar Island Lighthouse, repurposing the structure as a working bed and breakfast.

Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming joined NY State Assemblyman Fred Thiele, County Executive Steve Bellone, Legislator Kara Hahn, East Hampton Town Deputy Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, Sag Harbor Mayor Sandra Schroeder, Sag Harbor Trustees, East Hampton Trustees, Suffolk County Commissioners of Parks and the Department of Public Works (DPW)—along with community groups and organizations—announced the $500,000 appropriation during a press conference on Monday, August 14.

Lee H. Skolnick Architecture has agreed to design the exterior of the Cedar Island Lighthouse, which was constructed in 1868 to replace an earlier wooden structure. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1934 and passed into private hands until Suffolk County Parks acquired the structure in 1967.

Over the past 146 years, the lighthouse has survived erosion, hurricanes, vandalism, lack of maintenance and a fire, which gutted the interior in 1974.

In October of 2010, the Long Island Chapter of the US Lighthouse Society entered into a stewardship agreement with Suffolk County Parks to work together to restore the lighthouse. That same year, the Suffolk County Legislature amended the agreement to allow the Chapter to operate a bed and breakfast at Cedar Island Lighthouse, once it’s restored. This will keep the lighthouse open to the public and generate funds for the continued maintenance of the historic structure.

The Lighthouse will contain a living room, kitchen and keeper’s quarters on the first floor with two bedrooms on the second floor. Work on the roof is scheduled to commence in 2018.

Repurposing the structure as a working bed and breakfast will allow it to once again play an important role in the economy of the East End,” Legislator Fleming said, calling the lighthouse “a significant and historic part of Sag Harbor’s history.”