EAST END LIGHTHOUSES INSTALLS MEMORIAL WREATH ON ORIENT POINT LIGHTHOUSE December 20, 2005 By: Merlon E. Wiggin, President East End Lighthouses, Inc. Each year at Christmas time, East End Lighthouses with the volunteer assistance of Douglass Marine installs a Memorial Wreath on the Orient Point Lighthouse. The wreaths are placed in memory of the area's Lighthouse Keepers and in special remembrance of those that lost their lives in the building and keeping of the area's lighthouses that have served so faithfully as sentinels of navigation. The wreaths are installed with the approval and support of the United States Coast Guard, Group Long Island Sound. The Orient Point Lighthouse was selected because the wreath would be visible from all vessels and especially those of the Cross Sound Ferry that traverse the waters of Plum Gut on a daily basis. The wreath also faces Plum Island Lighthouse, the site of the first engagement between American and Continental troops and the British in the Revolutionary War. Installation of the Memorial Wreath is a unique and challenging task. Landing at the lighthouse is only practical and safe during light winds and outgoing tide, when a small boat can approach the lighthouse access ladder in the lee of the lighthouse's rock jetty. Some years members of East End Lighthouses and Douglass Marine have waited weeks for the right tide and wind conditions to safely approach the Orient Point Lighthouse. This year's effort was a pleasant exception. At the Orient-by-the-Sea Marina the large four-foot wreath donated by Lew Edson's Christmas Tree Farm was loaded aboard Douglass Marine's 32-foot tow and rescue vessel. With Bob Douglass at the helm and Merlon Wiggin along with Peter and Adam Douglass aboard, the rigid inflatable was picked up and placed in tow for the offshore trip to the lighthouse. En route and for safety reasons, the three that would be going to the lighthouse donned Coast Guard approved exposure suits. At this time of year,with the temperature below freezing and the cold water, anyone accidentally falling in the water without wearing an exposure flotation type gear wouldn't have much of a chance. Arriving at the lighthouse, the wreath was transferred to the rigid inflatable and landed at the lighthouse boarding ladder (see photo). Another trip was made with the writer and camera equipment. The wreath was carried up to the middle level of the lighthouse and securely fastened with previously prepared line and tape. The Orient Point Lighthouse is the newest of the original eight lighthouses constructed in Southold Town for the purpose to provide for safe passage of ships traversing the dangerous waters of Plum Gut. It took over ten years to convince the Lighthouse Board of a need for a lighthouse to mark the end of the Oysterpond Reef and the west side of Plum Gut. The lighthouse at Orient Point would probably never have been built if it had not been for the persistence and responsiveness to the safety of the maritime industry by our Congressional Representatives. Finally, in June 1897 Congress appropriated $30,000.00 for a light and fog signal at Orient Point. The lighthouse was constructed of cast iron sections which were floated out to the lighthouse's foundation and erected in the form of a truncated cone. The light was a 5th-Order fixed white Fresnel lens and was first lighted in 1899. Today the lighthouse is lighted by a VRV-25 Vega Solar Powered Optic with a focal point height of 64 feet. The first keeper was Ole N. A. Anderson, who was paid an annual salary of $600.00. Today the lighthouse is operated and maintained by the United States Coast Guard (see photo of light). The complete history of the Orient Point Light has been authored by Merlon Wiggin, published and available from East End Lighthouses.