Gardiners Point Island

John Milton, a 1,444-ton vessel built in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was wrecked on February 20, 1858 5 nautical miles (9 km) west of the Montauk Lighthouse, killing all 32 or 33 people on board, in one of the worst maritime disasters off the east coast of on Long Island, New York. Built in 1854, John Milton was captained by Ephraim Harding of Martha's Vineyard, with its home port at New Bedford, Massachusetts. The 43-year-old Harding was born in New Bedford. Also on board was the captain's teenage son, Rudolphus Hancock Harding. The ship left New York City on December 6, 1856. After loading a cargo of guano at the Chincha Islands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Peru, she returned to the United States from South America, stopping at Norfolk, Virginia, on February 14, 1858. She sailed northeast two days later, presumably heading for New York City. A blinding snowstorm and gale sprang up, and temperatures plunged to 8 °F (−13 °C). Captain Harding may have confused the Shinnecock Lighthouse at Ponquogue Point in Hampton Bays, which had been erected in his absence, for the Montauk Light, and ran aground off the shore at what is known today as "Ditch Plains". The frozen bodies of 24 sailors washed ashore and were buried at the South End Burying Ground in East Hampton, New York, where there is a marble monument today. Harding's body was identified, but his son's was never found. Capt. Harding's body was returned home and is buried in the Village Cemetery in Vineyard Haven, MA.

Plum Island is an island in the town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York. The island is situated in Gardiners Bay, east of Orient Point, off the eastern end of the North Fork coast of Long Island. It is about 3 miles (4.8 km) long and 1 mile (1.6 km) wide at its widest point. Plum Island is the site of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC), which was established by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1954. The Island is also the site of the former U.S. military installation Fort Terry (c. 1897), and the historic Plum Island Light (c. 1869), and its automated replacement. Plum Island is owned in its entirety by the United States government, which was considering sale of the island, but suspended the plan in February 2012. Access to the island is controlled by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On August 29, 2013, the United States General Services Administration (GSA) and United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a final "Record of Decision (ROD): Public Sale of Plum Island, New York". After years of pressure from organizations including the Preserve Plum Island Coalition (PPIC), the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, along with its permanent regional program Save the Sound and Soundkeeper, Inc., Congress voted in December 2020 to block the sale and preserve Plum Island. In 2020, President Donald Trump signed the legislation.

Gardiners Island Windmill is a historic windmill on Gardiners Island in East Hampton, New York. The mill was added to the National Historic Register in 1978.

Gardiner's Island is a small island in the Town of East Hampton, New York, in Eastern Suffolk County. It is located in Gardiner's Bay between the two peninsulas at the east end of Long Island. It is 6 miles (9.7 km) long, 3 miles (4.8 km) wide and has 27 miles (43 km) of coastline. The island has been owned by the Gardiner family and their descendants since 1639 when Lion Gardiner purchased it from the Montaukett chief Wyandanch. At 5.19 square miles (13.4 km2) it is one of the largest privately owned islands in the United States, and is slightly smaller than Naushon Island in Massachusetts, owned by the Forbes family.

Fort Terry was a coastal fortification on Plum Island, a small island just off Orient Point, New York, United States. This strategic position afforded it a commanding view over the Atlantic entrance to the commercially vital Long Island Sound. It was established in 1897 and used intermittently through the end of World War II. In 1952, it became a military animal and biological warfare (BW) research facility, moving to civilian control in 1954 as the Plum Island Animal Disease Center. Despite the new civilian control, the biological warfare mission continued until 1969, when the US officially ended offensive BW research. The island is now being considered for sale or conversion to a wildlife refuge. Fort Terry was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.

Great Gull Island is a 17-acre (6.9 ha) island separating the Long Island and Block Island sounds, located approximately 0.4 miles (0.6 km) southwest of Little Gull Island. Both islands are located in the town of Southold in Suffolk County, New York, and lie roughly midway between Plum Island and Fishers Island. The island is the location of former military fortifications, but is now owned by the American Museum of Natural History which is working to restore its ecosystem. It hosts many nesting Common and Roseate terns.

Fort Michie was a United States Army coastal defense site on Great Gull Island, New York. Along with Fort H. G. Wright, Fort Terry, and Camp Hero, it defended the eastern entrance to Long Island Sound as part of the Harbor Defenses of Long Island Sound, thus defending Connecticut's ports and the north shore of Long Island. The fort was named after First Lieutenant Dennis Michie, who was killed at San Juan Hill during the Spanish–American War. Michie is also known for being the first person to bring football to the United States Military Academy by organizing the first Army-Navy game, where the football stadium is also named after him. The fort was first developed at the turn of the 20th century and was active in World War I and World War II. After World War II it was deactivated as a coast defense fort. Since the 1950s the island has been used by the American Museum of Natural History to study migratory terns.

Plum Island Animal Disease Center (PIADC) is a United States federal research facility dedicated to the study of foreign animal diseases of livestock. It is a national laboratory of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Directorate for Science and Technology (S&T), and operates as a partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The facility's director is Larry Barrett. Isolated on Plum Island off the eastern tip of Long Island, New York, the center has been tasked with protecting America's livestock from animal diseases since 1954. It is the only facility in the country authorized to work with live foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) samples, and specializes in the study of FMD and African swine fever. At the height of the Cold War, study of biological weapons for use against livestock was conducted at the site, ending in 1969 when President Nixon declared an end to the United States' offensive bioweapons program. Today the facility maintains laboratories up to biosafety level 3, and has remained controversial as a result of its high-risk work and proximity to the New York metropolitan area. The facility is slated for closure in 2024, with work moving to the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility under construction in Manhattan, Kansas.

Little Gull Island Light is a lighthouse on Little Gull Island, a small island in Long Island Sound, located approximately 0.4 miles (0.6 km) northeast of Great Gull Island. Both islands are located in the Town of Southold, in Suffolk County, New York, and lie roughly midway between Plum Island and Fishers Island. Little Gull Island is approximately 4.6 miles (7.4 km) southwest of Fishers Island and the channel of water between them is the main entrance to Long Island Sound, known as "The Race". The lighthouse, which was built in 1869 and automated in 1978, occupies much of the rocky island, which is only about 1-acre (4,000 m2) in size.

Gardiners Bay is a small arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 10 mi (16 km) long and 8 mi (13 km) wide in the U.S. state of New York between the two flukelike peninsulas at the eastern end of Long Island. It is bounded on its eastern end, where it connects to Block Island Sound, by Gardiners Island and Promised Land. Adjoining harbors include Three Mile Harbor, Clearwater beach, Acabonack Harbor, and Lazy Point's Napeague harbor. Native fish include; Striped Bass, Bluefish, Fluke, Yellowtail, flounder, blackfish, weakfish, Porgy, sea Robbin, and sea skate. The area is fed by the nearby estuaries of Three mile Harbor, Acabonack Creek, and Napeague, which produce ideal environments for shellfish and crustaceans. Blue claw crab, oysters, and hard shell clams, scallops, and conch are abundant throughout these areas. It is bounded on the western end by Shelter Island. It connects by two channels at the north and south end of Shelter Island to Great Peconic Bay. During the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the bay was controlled by the British, who used Gardiners Island to store provisions. The British fleet assembled in Cherry Harbor in the bay before sailing to Chesapeake Bay to attack Washington, D.C. and burn the United States Capitol. Gardiners Bay is part of the Peconic Estuary and received the designation as an Estuary of National Significance from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1993.

Accabonac Harbor is a natural harbor in East Hampton, New York near the Eastern end of Long Island, New York. The harbor is shallow and is a coastal wetland that is preserved and therefore is a winter habitat for waterfowl. It is listed as a state-level Important Bird Area.

Springs is a census-designated place (CDP) roughly corresponding to the hamlet by the same name in the Town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2010 United States Census, the CDP population was 6,592.