Finding Fire Island: Our Legacy

Overview

Finding Fire Island: Our Legacy is a vital initiative to document and share the rich legacy of Fire Island Pines—not only for its current residents but for LGBTQ+ people everywhere. This project seeks to professionally record and amplify the stories of our legendary community, ensuring they are preserved and made widely accessible.

Our mission is to celebrate the voices, history, and enduring spirit of Fire Island Pines.

Why We’re Doing This

For any community, preserving its history is essential. It fosters identity, belonging, and pride, while guiding future generations through the lessons and achievements of the past.

Documenting history also combats misrepresentation, strengthens community recognition, and reinforces social and economic power.

Fire Island Pines has long stood as a vibrant and historically significant enclave within LGBTQ+ culture. The story of how this secluded retreat became—and remains—a beacon of creativity, resilience, and community in the face of adversity deserves to be shared and preserved for generations to come.

How We’ll Do It

This project will produce a high-quality podcast series that explores pivotal moments and themes in Pines history. Through in-depth interviews with longtime residents, activists, business owners, and cultural influencers, we’ll bring these stories to life.

The project is urgent: much of the Pines’ history lives in the memories of those who shaped it, and these stories are at risk of being lost over time.

Building on past projects like Where Ocean Meets Sky, this series will explore fresh themes that have shaped the evolution of the Pines—as told by the people who lived it, Pines Community Members, past and present.

Project Goals

1. Preserve Oral Histories – Capture and archive firsthand accounts from individuals who have shaped the community.

2. Increase Awareness – Illuminate the Pines’ historical and cultural impact within LGBTQ+ history.

3. Engage the Community – Provide a platform for voices that might otherwise go unheard.

4. Create a Lasting Resource – Develop an accessible, high-quality podcast series for educators, historians, and the public.

The initial season will consist of 4–6 professionally produced episodes, blending narrative storytelling with interviews and archival material.

How Stories Will Be Selected

Over the winter of 2025, the Pines Historical Society conducted preliminary research with past and current community members. This helped identify key themes and individuals whose stories we hope to highlight. Interviews conducted in summer 2025 will form the foundation of the series—our history, told in our own voices.

Who’s Involved

This project is sponsored by the Pines Historical Society, with support from longtime resident Virun Rampersad and acclaimed podcaster Jess Rothschild. Jess was the creator of the original Finding Fire Island series that received a GLAAD Award nomination and was featured in major news outlets such as NPR, The Hollywood Reporter and Huffington Post

To hear the quality we’re aiming for, visit the original series at: findingfireisland.com

Timeline

The project launches in Summer 2025 with interviews and recordings. Production and editing will follow in the fall, culminating in a compelling and historically rich podcast series.

Funding

Funding for the project will come from the Pines Historical Society, contributions from community members and businesses, and a grant from the Brockman Grant Foundation.

How You Can Help

The simple truth is the more support we receive, the more stories we can tell. Every donation helps preserve our history and amplify our voices.