Established: 1854 First Lighted: December, 1854 First Keeper: Albert Edwards, appointed December 21, 1854 Light: (1854) sixth order Fresnel lens, fixed white Fog Signal: none Height of light above sea level: (1883) 33 feet Discontinued: 1894, destroyed by storm The original Gardiner’s Island light was located very close to what is now referred to as The Ruins. The site was purchased from the Gardiner family in August of 1851 for $400.00. Gardiners Island Lighthouse was established to guide vessels clear of the north end of the island. It stood on a beach, at the end of what now is a shoal. Rising just three feet above the high tide mark, the sandy beach extended three miles off the north east end of the island. During storms and unusually high tides, parts of the beach were awash. The 28-foot square, 1 1/2 story brick lighthouse was constructed in 1854 and a sixth order Fresnel Lens, fixed white light was installed. The light was only 33 feet above sea level, and the unstable sand bar on which it was constructed was responsible for its early demise. By 1890 the loss of beach had accelerated to the point that the structure was in danger and it was proposed to rebuild it and/or relocate it, however that decision was made by a storm in March of 1894, when the lighthouse was abandoned and subsequently destroyed by the storm.       Historic Gardiner’s Island is the only real estate still intact as part of an original King of England’s Royal Land Grant. The 3500 Acre island also was reported to have been purchased about 1638 by the original Lion Gardiner for “a large black dog, some powder and shot, and a few Dutch blankets”. The original Gardiner set up an island type plantation where crops such as corn, wheat, fruit and tobacco, along with herds of cattle and sheep were raised. The island has been visited by warring Indian tribes, Captain Kidd, and the British during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 who used Gardiner’s Island as a source of provisioning. Gardiner’s Bay was a British pond during both wars and British men-of-war assembled in Cherry Harbor in 1814 before departing for the Potomac and burning the U. S. Capitol.