History of Cherry Grove
Cherry Grove is uniquely gay. And has been so since the 1940s. Cherry Grove is also uniquely diverse. Historically and today — gays and straights, blacks and whites, young and old, cis-gendered and transgendered — have lived, worked, and loved together, and built a town unlike anywhere in the world.
Over the decades, we have been a welcoming place for so many seeking a safe haven from anti-gay bias and discrimination. Today we remain so, but we are also a warm community that welcomes and embraces people of many colors and nationalities, a boisterous and exciting resort town, an environmentally rich seaside getaway, the creative and talented artistic heart of Fire Island, and of course, home to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
Our homes range from both modest to magnificent, shingled to sleek, welcoming to secluded. Our downtown is bubbling with festive restaurants, bars and night life. The goods in our shops are beachy, cool and trendy. But the best are our people — we are friendly, welcoming, smart, and committed to Cherry Grove.
Photos from Cherry Grove Archives
Oldest LGBTQ Theater
In the summer of 1946, just a few years after a monster hurricane bore down on Fire Island, a group of ambitious Cherry Grovites arranged to have an old barn floated across the Great South Bay and hauled to a spot just west of the dock.
At first the barn was a firehouse and a meeting room. Then in 1948 and ‘49, with their creativity bursting for release, they turned it into a theater.