Explore the real-world places that appear in Plum Island by Nelson DeMille. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Plum Island Animal Disease Center, Orient Point, Orient Point Lighthouse (Coffee Pot), Plum Gut, Gordon House Crime Scene (Orient) and 6 more.
Plum Island — Federal research facility off Orient Point
The mysterious federal laboratory where murdered biologists Tom and Judy Gordon worked. Rumors swirl that it is an incubator for germ warfare, and John Corey, along with Detective Beth Penrose and Zed Emerson, goes there during the investigation. Corey comes to suspect that the secrets of the island are tied to the killings and to a greater threat.
The Army established Fort Terry on Plum Island in 1897. The Plum Island Animal Disease Center was founded in 1954 to research foot-and-mouth disease and other livestock diseases, and was later run by the USDA and the Department of Homeland Security.
The island is closed to the public and the facility is being phased out in favor of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Kansas. The island is a wildlife refuge and the land has been the subject of sale and conservation debates.
Eastern tip of the North Fork — Gateway to Plum Island
Orient Point is the jumping-off point to Plum Island, and the ferry that serves the facility leaves from this area. Corey looks out across the water toward the island as he tries to understand the secrets across the strait. The surrounding waters also play a role in the novel's climactic action.
Orient Point has long been a maritime point at the end of the North Fork, with a lighthouse and ferry traffic linking it to Connecticut. Fishing and farming marked the area for centuries.
The Cross Sound Ferry runs from Orient Point to New London, Connecticut. Nearby Orient Beach State Park and the lighthouse area draw visitors.
Visit: Cross Sound Ferry Terminal at Orient Point (landmark)
Off Orient Point — Iconic offshore beacon
The lighthouse stands among the waters Corey surveys around Plum Island and Orient Point, and it forms part of the maritime backdrop of the novel's North Fork seascape as he moves between the shore and the island.
The Orient Point Lighthouse, nicknamed the Coffee Pot for its shape, was built in 1899 on a caisson foundation off the tip of Long Island. It marks the entrance to Plum Gut.
It remains an active aid to navigation, visible from the shore and the ferry. It can be viewed from Orient Point and from boat tours.
Visit: Orient Point Lighthouse (landmark)
Strait between Orient Point and Plum Island
The turbulent strait between Orient Point and Plum Island is where Corey's investigation takes him onto the water. Currents and boats serve as an element of danger as he and his companions pursue the people connected to the Gordons' deaths and the secrets of the island.
Plum Gut is known for its strong tidal currents and has long been a hazard and a prized fishing ground. It has seen shipwrecks and rum-running stories.
Fishermen and boaters still travel through the Gut, famed for striped bass and bluefish. It is best seen from boats or from the Orient Point shoreline.
Orient — Waterfront home where Tom and Judy Gordon were shot
The young biologists Tom and Judy Gordon are found shot to death on the patio of their home, setting off the novel's central mystery. Corey, convalescing nearby, is drawn in by Chief Detective Hector Rodriguez's team and by Detective Beth Penrose. The murder scene suggests that the killings were not an ordinary robbery.
Orient is a small hamlet on the tip of the North Fork, long a farming and fishing community with historic homes dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. Its houses along the waterfront are largely private.
The area is a quiet residential hamlet with farms and historic homes. The fictional house corresponds to private property and is not open to visitors.
Orient — Where Corey convalesces
John Corey recovers from gunshot wounds at his uncle's old house on the North Fork, where he reflects on his life, his former NYPD job, and his smart-mouthed outlook. He is drawn into the case because he knew the Gordons and has the skills the local police lack.
Many North Fork houses were built as farmhouses and summer retreats and handed down through families. Orient has preserved many such homes through historic preservation.
The setting is a private residential area of Orient. It is fictional in specifics and not accessible to the public.
Peconic Lane, Peconic — Local police base
Corey works with the Southold police, where Detective Beth Penrose, Chief Hector Rodriguez, and others coordinate the murder investigation. Corey clashes with federal and state agents who arrive and take interest in the case, and tensions between local and outside authorities shape his efforts.
The Southold Town Police Department has served the North Fork community for decades and is headquartered in the Peconic area. It handles local crime in a largely rural town.
The police headquarters is an active government facility and not a tourist site.
Front Street — Harbor town on the North Fork
Greenport is the nearby port village where Corey and Beth Penrose follow leads, and the harbor and waterfront give a sense of the area's seafaring character. The boating scene ties into the novel's mystery as Corey tracks the movements of people and goods across the water.
Greenport was a whaling and shipbuilding center in the 19th century and later a fishing port. Its working harbor and historic streets have been preserved.
Greenport is a popular destination with restaurants, shops, a carousel, and the East End Seaport Museum. It offers harbor views and ferry service to Shelter Island.
Visit: East End Seaport Museum (museum)
Main Road (Route 25) — Historic seat of Southold
The town of Southold serves as a hub of local authority and daily life, and Corey passes through its roads while pursuing leads and meeting with officials during the investigation. It is part of the rural landscape that makes the murders feel out of place.
Southold was settled in 1640 and is one of the oldest English settlements in New York. Its historic Main Road holds many colonial-era buildings.
Southold has farm stands, wineries, and the Southold Historical Museum. The town retains its rural character.
Visit: Southold Historical Museum (museum)
Orient — Sandy peninsula on the North Fork
The beaches and coastline around Orient are part of Corey's convalescence landscape, and the shoreline views toward Plum Island remind him how close the mysterious facility is to the quiet community.
The park occupies a sandy peninsula with a maritime forest and was opened as a state park in the 1960s. It includes some of the southernmost stands of black jack oak in the region.
The park offers swimming, hiking, birdwatching, and camping, with views toward Plum Island.
Visit: Orient Beach State Park (park)
Plum Island — Historic Army fort
Remnants of the old military installation on Plum Island are part of the landscape where Corey explores the facility's grounds and learns about its history, and the old fort's buildings hint at the layers of secrecy surrounding the island.
Fort Terry was built starting in 1897 as part of the coastal defenses protecting Long Island Sound, and it was active through World War II. It was deactivated and the island was later used for the animal disease laboratory.
The fort's structures remain on the island, which is closed to the public. The site is of historic and ecological interest.
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