Wilderness Visitor Center at Fire Island National Seashore

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Otis Pike Wilderness Home Page

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PARKING

The Wilderness Visitor Center sits on the very eastern edge of Fire Island National Seashore, and while it is accessible by vehicle, it does not have its own long-term parking lot. There is only a free 15-minute lot that you can use to drop off gear or to run inside to get a park brochure or other information. For long-term parking, visitors must use the Smith Point County Park parking lot, an enormous lot a half-mile long and a tenth of a mile wide that is capable of holding over 3,000 vehicles. There is a fee to enter the park, but this includes the use of its beaches, bathhouse, concessions, and other amenities. Credit and debit cards are accepted.

OPERATING HOURS

The Wilderness Visitor Center is open year-round from 9 AM to 4 PM, except when it is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Times can always change, so before making travel plans be sure to visit the National Park Service’s official Operating Hours and Seasons web page for Fire Island National Seashore.

AMENITIES

• Information desk where you can pick up a park brochure and ask questions
• Shell and marine life exhibit on the top floor
• Office for Sportsman Beach Driving and hunting permits
• Book and souvenir store

EXHIBIT AREA

On the top floor of the Wilderness Visitor Center is a small exhibition of shells and other marine creatures, plus the skeletons of a few mammals, including a deer.

Shell and bone collection on the top floor of the Wilderness Visitor Center at Fire Island National Seashore

There is also a very small exhibit on the U. S. Lifesaving Service, which was the precursor to the U. S. Coast Guard that was formed in 1915. Before the days of high-powered motorboats, men who joined the Lifesaving Service trained and lived at Lifesaving Stations that dotted the coast, very similar to firemen today. When a ship in distress was spotted, the men waited until it drifted close enough to shore to mount a land-based rescue operation. There were seven lifesaving stations on Fire Island.

Two important items of equipment used in the rescues were a Lyle gun and a breeches buoy. The Lyle gun, which looks like a small cannon, shot a rope out to a ship so that what today would be called a zip line could be set up. A breeches buoy, which is essentially a life preserver with a pair of pants on it, was pulled out to the ship along the rope and then, one by one, passengers slipped into the breeches buoy and “zipped-lined” it back to shore.

The Lyle guns that you see in museums are usually authentic, but the wooden carriages are reproductions because most have rotted away. In 2015 a carriage was found on the beach of the Otis Pike Wilderness. It had been buried for years and was somehow exposed by the waves. Tourists found it and turned it over to the National Park Service. Plans are to restore the carriage and put it on display at the Wilderness Visitor Center (it may be on display by the time you read this).

Information on the Lyle gun carriage that was found in 2015 on display inside the Wilderness Visitor Center at Fire Island National Seashore

SCHEDULING YOUR TIME

The exhibition area is open only during the summer because the upper floor is not heated. There’s not much information to read, so plan to spend fifteen minutes at the most to see the exhibit. Any additional time spent at the Wilderness Visitor Center depends on the individual visitor and his or her reason for stopping by.

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