Pergolas in Point Lookout

Point Lookout’s first known inhabitants were Merrick (Meroke) Native Americans, a tribe of the Algonquin people. The first European settlers in Point Lookout were Dutch, who arrived in the 1640s, followed by the English, in the 1660s.

The barrier beach on which Point Lookout sits has been, in one incarnation or another, there for hundreds, if not thousands of years. The first mention of Point Lookout begins to appear in the mid-19th century, as a location for whalers, and as a dangerous spot for ships. A U.S. Life Saving Station was established at Point Lookout in 1872; ironically, it was due to the tragic wreck of the U.S.S. Mexico on January 2, 1837, that a U.S. Life Saving Service was created; the service remained there until farmers grew salt hay on the marshes that stretch behind the site.

A series of hotel and seasonal bungalows was built, as was a seasonal railroad connecting Point Lookout to Long Beach, but nearly all these structures were destroyed over time by either winter storms or fire. During the summer months ferries from the Woodcleft Canal in Freeport brought hundreds of day-trippers to Point Lookout’s beaches, and for those who lived in Point Lookout, or in the small community to the east called Nassau By the Sea, the barrier island was a paradise.