Episode Details

Orient Point Lighthouse is a cast-iron, so-called “sparkplug” type lighthouse in a location known as Plum Gut, between Plum Island and Orient Point at the northeastern tip of Long Island, New York. After its 1958 automation, the Coast Guard considered tearing it down and replacing it with a simple pipe tower, but a public outcry saved the structure and some restoration work was carried out. 

In 2013 the property was auctioned under the guidelines of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act of 2000. The winner of the auction was Randy Polumbo, an artist and the founder of the New York City eco-construction company, Plant. Randy’s work has been exhibited nationally and abroad. Over the past few years he has transformed the interior of the lighthouse, adding a kitchen and studio space. He’s installed a spinning, glowing sphere on the watch room gallery, and a colorful grotto inside, which he calls a “walk-in kaleidoscope.” Randy plans to make the lighthouse available for artists, writers, and composers who want to be “lost at sea for a week or more.”

Click here to read more about Randy Palumbo and Orient Point Lighthouse

Tarrytown Lighthouse went into service on October 1, 1883, about 20 miles north of New York City on the east shore of the Hudson River. It’s a cast-iron caisson structure, with four stories inside