Cherry Grove, New York
Encyclopedia
Brookhaven, New York
The Town of Brookhaven is one of the ten towns into which Suffolk County, New York, United States, has been divided. Part of the New York metropolitan area, it is located in central Suffolk County and is the only town in the county that stretches from the North Shore to the South Shore of Long...
, Suffolk County
Suffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is located on Fire Island
Fire Island, New York
Fire Island is one of the outer barrier islands adjacent to the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is approximately long and varies between broad. Fire Island is part of Suffolk County. It comprises a number of hamlets, census-designated places , and villages, all of which lie within the...
, a barrier island
Barrier island
Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...
separated from the southern side of Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
by the Great South Bay
Great South Bay
Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is approximately long. It's protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire Island, a barrier island, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island and Captree Island.Robert Moses Causeway adjoins...
. The hamlet has approximately 300 houses on 41 acres (165,921.3 m²), a summer seasonal population of 2,000 and a year-round population of 15.
Cherry Grove, along with nearby Fire Island Pines
Fire Island Pines, New York
Fire Island Pines is a hamlet in the Town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York, United States...
, is considered one of the most popular lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, bisexual, and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
)-accepting resort communities in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The Grove is reputedly the nation's first and oldest LGBT community.
History
Cherry Grove dates its modern history to the 1868 purchase by Archer and Elizabeth Perkinson. They bought the land between Lone Hill (now Fire Island Pines) and the Cherry Grove Hotel from the ocean to the bay for 25 cents per acre and named the area for the black-cherry trees in the area.The Perkinsons opened a hotel in 1880. According to local legend Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
stayed at the Perkinson Hotel.
In 1921 the Perkisons sold all the land east of Duryea Walk to Lone Hill, and then divided what was left, into 109 building lots. A lot 50 x 80 feet (24.4 m) could be bought for $250 or less, and ocean-front lots cost no more than a dollar a front foot. Buildings from the newly deactivated Camp Upton
Camp Upton
Camp Upton was an installation of the United States Army located in Yaphank on Long Island in Suffolk County, New York. It was located near Camp Mills.-History:...
in Yaphank
Yaphank, New York
Yaphank is a census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 5,025 at the 2000 census.Yaphank is a community in the south part of the Town of Brookhaven...
, New York, were ported over to form the core of the new colony.
A post office was established in 1922 at the site of where "Tides" (formerly “The Monster”) is today; The first boardwalk
Boardwalk
A boardwalk, in the conventional sense, is a wooden walkway for pedestrians and sometimes vehicles, often found along beaches, but they are also common as paths through wetlands, coastal dunes, and other sensitive environments....
s were built in 1929.
In 1930 Duffy’s Hotel replaced the original hotel and was the only place with electricity and a phone.
The Great Hurricane of 1938 destroyed much of Cherry Grove and discouraged mainlanders from coming. In their stead a new generation started coming from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York, including Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat
Xavier Cugat was a Spanish-American bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a key personality in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. He was also a cartoonist and a successful businessman...
, Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...
, Pola Negri
Pola Negri
Pola Negri was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles from the 1910s through the 1940s during the Golden Era of Hollywood film. She was the first European film star to be invited to Hollywood, and became a great American star. She...
, Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis
Arlene Francis was an American actress, radio talk show host, and game show panelist...
, and Earl Blackwell (publisher of the International Celebrity Register).
According to legend the gay aura of the town arose when Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
and W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
arrived dressed as Dionysus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
and Ganymede
Ganymede (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...
, carried aloft on a gilded litter
Litter (vehicle)
The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of persons. Examples of litter vehicles include lectica , jiao [较] , sedan chairs , palanquin , Woh , gama...
by a group of singing followers. Duffy’s attempted to ban same-sex dancing until after midnight.
Duffy’s burned on September 27, 1956, and was replaced by the Ice Palace Hotel which has remained a popular destination.
The Grove has become home to three massive homes: Cielo E Mar (an aria
Aria
An aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
from the 1876 opera La Gioconda
La Gioconda (opera)
La Gioconda is an opera in four acts by Amilcare Ponchielli set to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Angelo, tyran de Padoue, a play in prose by Victor Hugo, dating from 1835...
which translates to "Sky and Sea"), the Belvedere, and Bottom of the Garden.
Fire Department
The Cherry Grove Fire Department (CGFD) is a low incident department. The CGFD also has pull stations located at every other street corner where unique hose houses contain vital equipment that would be needed by the members to suppress any fire. This is due to the unique nature of Cherry Grove. There are no roads, only boardwalks, hence no ability to respond with a fire engine. If you spot a fire or emergency you should call 911 or run to the nearest street corner and pull the lever down. By doing this you are activating the fire siren which alerts the members to respond. CGFD is one of the few fire departments that still uses a manual pull station system. You can visit the department's website at cgfd.org http://www.cgfd.org.Recreation and sites of interest
Outdoor activities
The main outdoor attraction is the beach and the surrounding protected portions of the Fire Island National SeashoreFire Island National Seashore
Fire Island National Seashore is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, an approximately long barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay....
. Clothing-optional sunbathing is acceptable at the beach.
Entertainment and dining
There are at least six restaurants that operate within Cherry Grove, varying from pizza and breakfast to seafood and fine-dining. Also, there are at least four entertainment venues hosting plays, art shows, dancing, underwear parties, drag shows, and various community events.Civic activities
Civic activities in the Grove include charity events and an Awards Night, during which votes are taken and titles bestowed upon residents and local businesses.Annual events
A big event on the Cherry Grove social calendar is the 4th-of-JulyIndependence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
weekend "Invasion of the Pines
Invasion of the Pines
During the summer of 1976, a restaurant in Fire Island Pines, New York, denied entry to a visitor in drag named Terry Warren. Fire Island Pines is a beach community on Fire Island east of New York City with a gay majority population that was at the time more affluent and conservative than the...
", which dates back to 1976, when a resident of the Grove showed up wearing drag in Fire Island Pines and was refused service. In the 1970s, the Pines was a more-conservative, more-heterosexual community than the Grove.
Transportation
Sayville ferry
Cherry Grove can be accessed via the Sayville Ferry Service departing from SayvilleSayville, New York
Sayville is a hamlet and CDP in Suffolk County, New York, . Located on the south shore of Long Island in the Town of Islip, the population of the CDP was 16,735 at the time of the 2000 census.-History:...
, New York, across the Great South Bay. The Long Island Rail Road
Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road or LIRR is a commuter rail system serving the length of Long Island, New York. It is the busiest commuter railroad in North America, serving about 81.5 million passengers each year. Established in 1834 and having operated continuously since then, it is the oldest US...
connects Sayville to New York City.
Fire Island Water Taxi
Visitors arriving by car may park at the Robert Moses State ParkRobert Moses State Park (Long Island)
Robert Moses State Park - Long Island is a state park that is located in the state of New York.The park lies in southern Suffolk County on the western end of Fire Island, one of the central barrier Islands off the southern coast of Long Island...
“Field Five” parking lot. After reaching the Fire Island Lighthouse, the Fire Island Water Taxi will ferry paying customers to the Grove. The water taxi provides short-distance transportation for those moving from place to place along the coast of Fire Island. The fare and schedule for the taxi service varies by season. http://www.tmdesign.net/watertaxi/zones.htm
Source
- Fire Island Water Taxi. Accessed January 6, 2007. http://www.tmdesign.net/watertaxi/zones.htm
External links
- Live Stream-Community Portal
- Cherry Grove, Fire Island Online Travel Guide
- Fire Island Website: News and Travel Guide
- Fire Island iPhone App (free), ferry schedules for all Fire Island, including Cherry Grove and The Fire Island Pines
- Grove Pines Connect, 24/7 Gay Social Networking Haven
- Arts Project Cherry Grove (APCG)
- Cherry's On The Bay: Dance Club & Cafe
- Cherry Grove Community Association (CGCAI)
- Cherry Grove Fire Department (CGFD)
- Fire Island Men: Gay Men of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines
- Fire Island Q News, Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove Monthly Gay Webzine
- Grove Hotel and Ice Palace Cherry Grove: Hotel & Dance Club