Fire Island opens Watch Hill house to overnight visitors at Bayview House
A former cabin for Fire Island National Seashore staff, Bayview House is now available as rental for vacationers. Credit: National Park Service
The Fire Island National Seashore has added a new option for overnight visitors to Watch Hill — the Bayview House sleeps four people and rents for $570 a night in high season.
The rustic cabin was formerly used to house seasonal park employees, but the seashore has more and more rangers and staff living locally, opening up the house to public rentals, says Chris Olijnyk, park ranger.
The one-story, two-bedroom house has a full bed in each bedroom. A living room/kitchen combo with a table for four and a counter with four stools, along with one bathroom, make up the rest of the home. A deck offers a picnic table and barbecue grill.
While there are box fans in each bedroom, the house has no air conditioning or heating, Olijnyk says. Pillows are provided, but renters must bring their own sheets, pillowcases and bath towels. No beach chairs, beach umbrellas or bicycles are provided. The house does not have television, Olijnyk says, and he’s not sure about whether there’s Wi-Fi connection. Pets are not allowed.
The brown shingle home is in a group of about 10 houses about a mile from the Fire Island community of Davis Park, with most of the other houses still being used for staff such as lifeguards, concession people and other staff, Olijnyk says. "It’s remote, but it’s not secluded," he says of the area. "You’re basically living at the Watch Hill Marina." The home can be reached by Watch Hill ferry or private boat.
The Bayview House joins two other Fire Island National Seashore rental houses already in operation. The nearby Bayberry Dunes House rents for $645 per night in high season, Olijnyk says. The Cottage at Sailor’s Haven, which is only one bedroom, rents for $430 per night in high season, he says. All three houses rent for reduced prices during May and from the week after Labor Day through Columbus Day.
The rental fees are used by the National Seashore to maintain the homes, Olijnyk says. "It’s a way of generating income," he says. Reservations must be made at recreation.gov.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
