Cherry Grove Theater Gains Historic Landmark Status

Located on Fire Island’s Gay Sanctuary

Cherry Grove’s Community House and Theatre were recently named to the National Register of Historic Places for “the enormous role it played in shaping what gradually evolved into America’s “First Gay and Lesbian Town.” Recognized by the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service for historical designation,” it follows New York’s Stonewall Inn, site of the 1969 gay uprising that spawned the Gay Rights Movement and gay rights activist Dr. Franklin E. Kameny’s home in Washington, D.C.

History of The Theatre

The theatre was cited for being the oldest continuously operating gay and lesbian theatre in the United States.  Located in the hamlet of Cherry Grove, one of about seventeen hamlets and villages on the 30-mile long barrier island five miles off the southern shore of Long Island, the building was actually floated across Long Island’s Great South Bay to serve as the community house for the Cherry Grove Property Owners Association, Inc., which organized in 1944 to serve Cherry Grove’s civic needs.  In 1948, the theatre wing was constructed.

According to The NPS listing, “this integration of homosexual residents into daily life and events at its community house afforded Cherry Grove a singular status; it became the one of the first and, for many years, the only gay and lesbian influenced geography in the United States.” Cherry Grove’s neighbor The Pines is also popular with the gay community.

Hoping to get Funding for Theatre

Residents want funding for the 151-seat barn structure.  Over the years, famous gay artists such as Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, W.H. Auden have walked across its floorboards. The walls of the theater’s basement dressing room feature autographs of many of the performers or their initials, if afraid to be out publicly.

Why Cherry Grove Has Survived

Cherry Grove has survived because of its location, location, location. No cars are permitted in Cherry Grove or nearby The Pines.  It has two miles of white, sandy beaches facing the Atlantic and are accessible by narrow boardwalks.  About sixty miles east of Manhattan, it can be reached by a 20 –minute ferry ride that goes across Great South Bay to the gay-friendly resort. Because the barrier island is so isolated from the mainland, gays were generally left alone since the 1940’s with the exception of few-and-far-between raids.

The disastrous 1938 hurricane nearly obliterated Cherry Grove.  Desperate for cash, landlords and business, after the Depression and WW II, overlooked their tenants’ sexual orientation in order to fill largely rental properties.  It became a safe haven for gays in which they were weren’t harassed.

“ A Gay and Lesbian Mayberry RFD” – 7 Year Visitor

President of the Cherry Grove Community Association, Diane Romano, says “ We remember when we could be arrested just for being gay.  To now be applauded and to be allowed to marry and to be recognized by the government for being a gay theater for so many years is just thrilling.”