Friends of Library to Host Annual Book Luncheon

Members of the Friends of the Glen Cove Public Library are busy finalizing preparations for its annual Book and Author Luncheon on April 25.

Not only will the luncheon raise money for the library, it will also feature Long Island resident Henry Osmers, a longtime author and Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum tour director, as its guest speaker.

Henry Osmers

The first time Osmers, now 60, set his eyes on the lighthouse he was 7. This moment, he explained, began a lifelong love of the lighthouse and its history.

That love led to Osmers publishing three books about the history, the keepers and a shipwreck at the lighthouse. He is currently in the middle of writing his fourth book about the military history there. The lighthouse, which is in Montauk Point State Park, is the oldest one in the state.

Osmers said he didn't see the lighthouse much while he was growing up, but when he met and married his wife in 1972, the two would take Sunday drives from Elmont all the way to the point to walk around the rocks. They would have picnics with their friends there as well.

The couple moved to Shirley in 1987 and didn't get out to the lighthouse too much after they had kids. In the spring of 2001, they journeyed back to commemorate their first time there together.

At the same time, officials at the lighthouse were looking for tour guides. Osmers said his wife told him to go for it and he did just that. He was hired for the job and called it a dream come true.

"Two months later they asked me if I wanted to be tour director," Osmers recalled. "I gave oral presentations a couple of times a day to visitors. By my estimation, I have given 800 talks."

In 2004, Osmers said, he began to be interested in the history of the lighthouse. "There was a binder with safety regulations and policy and it had a little section on history," Osmers said.  "It had general history like the year the lighthouse was built and I thought there's got to be more to it than this."

After reviewing other materials that were written about the lighthouse, Osmers published his first book, "On Eagle's Beak: A History of the Montauk Point Lighthouse" in 2008.

His second book, "Living on the Edge: Life at the Montauk Point Lighthouse: 1930-1943" was published in February 2009 after he met and interviewed Margaret "Bucky" Buckridge Bock, a 90-year-old woman who was the daughter of a former lighthouse keeper. 

Then came his third book "They Were All Strangers" in February 2010. It depicts the story of the John Milton, a ship that wrecked in Montauk in 1858. 

And more about his writing career will be shared at the luncheon. 

Event Information

The fundraiser will be held at the Page One Restaurant in Glen Cove at 1 p.m. Tickets are $35 and reservations can be made by calling Amy Gretchyn at the library at (516) 676-2130. Registration forms are also available at the library's circulation desk.