By Thomas
R. Bayles

Plum Island lies across Plum Gut,
about a mile east of Orient Point, and is part of Southold Town.
This island contains some 800 acres and is about three miles in
length. The island was purchased of the Indians by Samuel Wylles of
Hartford, Connecticut, in 1659 for “on barrel of buscuit, one
hundred muxes,” (small brad awls, used by the Indians to make holes
in shells for wampum) and a few fish hooks. A patent was issued for
the island by Gov. Andros in 1659. A light house was erected on the
west end of the island in 1827 and refitted in 1856, and stood on a
hill that gave the light an elevation of 63 feet above the water.
It had a revolving light, flashing every 30 seconds, visible for 12
miles.
According to an article in the
Brooklyn Times for July 10, 1909, there were a number of farm houses
on Plum Island in the early days, but the soil was not very fertile,
and the cleared lands were used for the most part for grazing flocks
of sheep during the open months. Fishermen and campers squatted
there and great colonies of terns raised their young along the shore
until the United States government decided to fortify the eastern
entrances to the Long Island Sound. Plum Island was chosen,
together with Big Gull Island and Fishers Island, as the sites for
forts and barracks.
Fort Terry was built on the island
and it was a stop for the streamers running between Greenport and
New London. The Naval Marine Corps of the eastern states camped at
Fort Terry during the Summer months, while the big warships in
Gardiner’s Bay discharged thunderous rounds of fire that jarred
window.
At the southwest end of the island
the government built a dock for use when northeast storms made it
dangerous to use the pier at Fort Terry.
The following paragraphs are from
the Brooklyn Times.
“With a fleet of war vessels in the
bay, the white tents of the Naval Reserve dotting the rising ground,
the sound of bugles and the discharge of small arms and the boom of
big guns, with flags flying from the forts and warships, the scene
is quite different from that of two decades ago, when only the wash
of the tide and the screaming of the brooding gulls were heard in
Summer, and in Winter the ice floes groaned as thy tumbled over each
other, sometimes 30 feet high, at the narrow Plum Gut inlet.
“The colony of terns has
disappeared and there are only a few bluefish gulls still, raising
their young in the beach grasses along Gardiner’s Island, but at
Gull Island, where the birds nests were so numerous, that one could
not land without walking on eggs or their young, the gulls have all
been driven away. Fort Micha has been built here, and to the east
the strip of rock marking Little Gull Island, the Gull Island
Lighthouse rears its lofty tower. Across the race in Fisher’s
Island, where the artillery men of Fort Wright are stationed. There
a new hospital is being built by the government. Over on Gardiner’s
Island Point a futile effort was made to mount big guns. Many
thousands of dollars were spent on trying to build a stable
foundation of concrete, but the shifting sands undermined the work
and the fortification finally was abandoned. It is a favorite
excursion of many to this old fort, and there is a good landing pier
on the bay side.”
So, while men has been busy
changing the chain of islands that stretch between Long island and
the mainland of New England, nature has wrought greater changes.
Who may doubt the stories handed down the Plum Island was originally
a part of Long Island, which the sea had separated from the mainland
of Orient. The story goes that the original settlers of Orient
passes across to Plum Island at low tide on stepping stones, and now
there is a mile wide channel where the tide rushes through equaled
only by the swirling waters of Hell Gate.