Jones Beach Island is one of the

outer barrier islands The Outer Barrier, also known as the Long Island and New York City barrier islands, refers to the string of barrier islands that divide the lagoons south of Long Island, New York from the Atlantic Ocean. These islands include Long Beach Barrier ...

off the southern coast of Long Island in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

of New York.

Etymology

It is named for Major Thomas Jones, who first came to Long Island in 1692, where he proceeded to build the island's first brick house near

Massapequa Massapequa (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered the anchor community of the Greater Massapequa area. The po ...

. Jones built a whaling station on Jones Island near the present site of Jones Beach State Park in 1700. Jones Beach Island is sometimes referred to as Oak Beach Island and is the former home of the infamous

Oak Beach Inn The Oak Beach Inn, commonly referred to by the abbreviation OBI, was a Long Island nightclub located in Oak Beach, on Jones Beach Island near Captree State Park in the Town of Babylon, Suffolk County, New York. History and controversy In 19 ...

. Because of the ephemeral nature of the various inlets, the name Fire Island is sometimes used to refer collectively to the various barrier islands off the south shore of Long Island, but usually refers specifically to the island across the Fire Island Inlet to the east.

Geography

Jones Beach Island is separated from Long Island by

South Oyster Bay South Oyster Bay or East Bay is a lagoon

and

Great South Bay The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about long and has an average depth of 4 feet 3 inches and is 20 feet at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire ...

, from

Long Beach Barrier Island Long Beach is one of the outer barrier islands off the south coast of Long Island, New York, United States. Long Beach is the westernmost of these barrier islands, fronting on Reynolds Channel to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. ...

Jones Inlet Jones Inlet is located at the westernmost end of the long Jones Beach barrier island that runs along Long Island's south shore. The inlet separates Jones Beach State Park's West End from the community of Point Lookout and connects South Oyste ...

to the west, and from

Fire Island Fire Island is the large center island of the outer barrier islands parallel to the South Shore of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Occasionally, the name is used to refer collectively to not only the central island, but also Lo ...

Fire Island Inlet Fire Island Inlet is an inlet on the south shore of Long Island, New York. It connects the Great South Bay with the Atlantic Ocean, passing between Robert Moses State Park (the western end of Fire Island) on the south and Oak Beach and Cap ...

to the east. It straddles the line between Nassau and Suffolk counties. From west to east, Jones Beach Island contains the following communities and parks: * Jones Beach State Park *

John F. Kennedy Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, a Town of Oyster Bay wildlife preserve * Tobay Beach, a Town of Oyster Bay beach * Gilgo, a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the count ...

West Gilgo Beach West Gilgo Beach is a small private gated community located in the town of Babylon, in Suffolk County, New York, United States. It is part of the Gilgo census-designated place. History West Gilgo Beach was founded on Sept 18, 1939 by reside ...

, a private gated community ** Gilgo Beach, a community and Town of Babylon beach ** Cedar Beach, a Town of Babylon beach ** Overlook Beach, a residents-only Town of Babylon beach ** Gilgo State Park, an undeveloped beach *

Oak Beach Oak Beach is a small community and census-designated place located near the eastern end of Jones Beach Island, a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great South Bay of Long Island. The community is part of the village of Babylon in ...

, a census-designated place * Captree, a census-designated place ** Captree State Park The southern side of the island is known for its beaches that face the open

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. The best known of the public beaches on the island, Jones Beach State Park on the western tip of the island, is a summer recreational destination for the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

area. Jones Beach Island is accessible from Long Island on its western end by the

Meadowbrook State Parkway The Meadowbrook State Parkway (also known as the Meadowbrook, the Meadowbrook Parkway or the MSP) is a parkway in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. Its southern terminus is at a full cloverleaf interchange with the Bay and Ocean ...

to Merrick (with the

Loop Parkway The Loop Parkway (also known as the Loop) is a parkway in Nassau County, New York, in the United States. It serves the barrier islands south of Long Island itself, beginning on Long Beach Barrier Island at an intersection with Lido Boulevard in ...

providing a spur to

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

), and the

Wantagh State Parkway The Wantagh State Parkway is a long state parkway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. It links the Ocean Parkway in Jones Beach State Park with the Northern State Parkway in Westbury. The parkway is located approximately east of ...

Wantagh Wantagh ( ) is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on Long Island, New York, United States. The population was 18,871 at the time of the 2010 census. Wantagh is known as "The Gateway to Jones ...

. The

Robert Moses Causeway The Robert Moses Causeway is an parkway in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. The parkway, originally known as the Captree Causeway, connects West Islip on Long Island to the barrier beach islands, such as Captree Island, Jones Beach I ...

traverses its eastern end, linking to Babylon via the State Boat Channel Bridge and

Great South Bay Bridge The Great South Bay Bridge is a bridge on the southwest side of Suffolk County, New York, on Long Island. It connects the Robert Moses Causeway from Long Island's mainland over the Great South Bay, connecting to Captree and Jones Beach islan ...

, as well as to

by the

Fire Island Inlet Bridge The Fire Island Inlet Bridge, an integral part of the Robert Moses Causeway, is a two-lane, steel tied arch span with a concrete deck that carries the parkway over Fire Island Inlet. Construction of the Fire Island Bridge was completed in 1964 ...

. The Ocean Parkway connects all three causeways and runs the length of the island.

References

{{authority control Tourist attractions on Long Island Babylon (town), New York Barrier islands of New York (state) Hempstead, New York Islip (town), New York Oyster Bay (town), New York Islands of Nassau County, New York Islands of Suffolk County, New York Islands of New York (state)