Smith Point County Park is a beachfront park facing the Atlantic Ocean on the east end of
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 Long ...
, along the central south shore of
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, near
Shirley, New York
Shirley is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Suffolk County, New York, United States. At the 2010 census, the population of Shirley was 27,854. Shirley is the western terminus of Atlantic Crossing 1, a major submarine telecommunications ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is the largest park owned by
Suffolk County.
The park derives its name from Smith Point, a peninsula on the Long Island mainland that extends into Bellport Bay. The peninsula was named for
William "Tangier" Smith
William "Tangier" Smith (February 2, 1655 – February 18, 1705) was a governor of Tangier, on the coast of Morocco, and an early settler of New York who owned more than of Atlantic Ocean waterfront property in central Long Island in New York Stat ...
, who in the 17th century owned of ocean-front property in the
Manor of St. George. The park is not on the Smith Point peninsula.
Overview
Smith Point Park, located on the
barrier island
Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of Dune, dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything fro ...
of
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 Long ...
, is a haven for sportsmen,
surfers
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...
and beach lovers. An extremely popular facility, the park has white sands, rolling Atlantic surf and an adjoining camping facility that attract both Suffolk County residents and tourists each summer.
Reservations are required for all the sites in the campground. All sites have water, and many have electric hookups and sewers. Outer beach camping is available on first come, first served basis, beach conditions permitting.
A nationally recognized team of
lifeguard
A lifeguard is a rescuer who supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, beach, spa, river and lake. Lifeguards are trained in swimming and CPR/ AED first a ...
s makes Smith Point its home base, providing ocean visitors with safety protection. With permits, people may drive
off-road vehicles
An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of off-roading, driving on and off Pavement (material), paved or gravel surface. It is generally characteri ...
on the western portion of the outer beach. All beach-goers are advised to respect the protective fencing that marks nest sites of endangered
shorebirds
245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots
Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...
inhabiting the
ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
and
bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
beaches.
![Atlantic Ocean-NY](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Atlantic_Ocean-NY.JPG)
Special events are scheduled throughout the summer months at Smith Point County Park.
William Floyd Parkway
County Route 46 (CR 46) is a major county road in eastern Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It runs south-to-north from CR 75 in Smith Point County Park (part of the Fire Island National Seashore) to New York State R ...
provides access to the beach and rest of the park. It crosses Narrow Bay on the two-lane
Smith Point Bridge
The Smith Point Bridge is a steel bascule drawbridge in Shirley, New York that connects Long Island to Fire Island. Located on the south shore of central Suffolk County, the bridge carries William Floyd Parkway (Suffolk CR 46) across The Narrow ...
. Large parking fields with tunnels to the seashore are available at the end of the Parkway.
A jeep road (with access by permit only) extends to the end of the island. This road as well as the main road along the beach (Suffolk CR 75) was originally intended to be part of the
Ocean Parkway Extension.
Suffolk Transit's 7E route served the beach on a seasonal basis, connecting it with the
Mastic–Shirley Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk Co ...
station on the
Montauk Branch
The Montauk Branch is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. The branch runs the length of Long Island, 115 miles (185 km) from Long Island City on the west to Montauk on the east. How ...
, until it was discontinued in October 2016. From 1983 until the late 1990s Suffolk Transit also ran the S74 bus during the summer from Smith Haven Mall to Smith Point.
The park extends from the east end of the
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 Long ...
Wilderness portion of the National Seashore to a strip of Town of Brookhaven parkland running between this park and the west side of
Cupsogue Beach County Park
Cupsogue Beach County Park is a park at the eastern end of Fire Island and the western end of Westhampton Island, known locally as Dune Road, one of Long Island's easternmost barrier islands. The Atlantic Ocean, Moriches Inlet and Moriches Bay s ...
which occupies both ends of
Moriches Inlet
Moriches Inlet ( ) is an inlet connecting Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.The Indian Place-Names on Long Island and Islands Adjacent, with Their Proba ...
. Smith Point is a great starting point to explore
Fire Island National Seashore
Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, an approximately long and wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New York ...
and its wilderness areas. A favorite hike is to walk a mile or so behind the dunes on Burma Road and back on the ocean side. The old road leads up to Old Inlet. You can return with an ocean-side walk. Along the way you can spot deer, pick beach plums during the right season, listen to birds and explore several pine groves.
The
Fire Island Wilderness
Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, an approximately long and wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New York ...
Visitor Center is located at the southernmost end of
William Floyd Parkway
County Route 46 (CR 46) is a major county road in eastern Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. It runs south-to-north from CR 75 in Smith Point County Park (part of the Fire Island National Seashore) to New York State R ...
, adjacent to Smith Point County Park. This is
Fire Island National Seashore
Fire Island National Seashore (FINS) is a United States National Seashore that protects a section of Fire Island, an approximately long and wide barrier island separated from Long Island by the Great South Bay. The island is part of New York ...
's eastern gateway to the
Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness
Otis may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Characters
* Otis (Superman), in the films ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' and related DC Comics media
** Otis Graves, in the TV series ''Supergirl''
* Otis (''The Walking Dead''), in the Image Comics ...
, the only federally designated wilderness area in
New York State
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
.
TWA Flight 800 International Memorial
![Twa-memorial6](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Twa-memorial6.jpg)
On July 17, 1996,
TWA Flight 800
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 (TWA800) was a Boeing 747-100 that exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 8:31pm. Eastern Daylight Time, EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff from John F. K ...
, a
Boeing 747-131
The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022.
After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, to ...
en route from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
to
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and
Rome, Italy
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (Romulus and Remus, legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
...
, crashed at sea away from the park; all passengers and crew were killed.
The TWA Flight 800 International Memorial was dedicated in a parcel immediately adjoining the main pavilion at the park on July 14, 2004. Funds for the memorial were raised by the Families of TWA Flight 800 Association. The memorial includes landscaped grounds and flags from the 13 countries of the victims. The curved black
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
memorial has names engraved on one side and an illustration on the other of a wave releasing 230 seagulls into the sky. In July 2006 the association added an abstract design of a lighthouse in black granite designed by Harry Edward Seaman, who had lost a cousin in the crash. The
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
sits above a tomb holding many of the victims' personal belongings.
Hurricane Sandy
High tides and storm surge associated with
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
in October 2012 caused several new
inlet
An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea.
Overview
In marine geogra ...
s to form within and near Smith Point County Park. One breach occurred on the east end of the park itself near Moriches Inlet, while a second breach occurred further west on Fire Island at Old Inlet within the
Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness
Otis may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Characters
* Otis (Superman), in the films ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' and related DC Comics media
** Otis Graves, in the TV series ''Supergirl''
* Otis (''The Walking Dead''), in the Image Comics ...
. A third breach occurred across Moriches Inlet just inside of
Cupsogue Beach County Park
Cupsogue Beach County Park is a park at the eastern end of Fire Island and the western end of Westhampton Island, known locally as Dune Road, one of Long Island's easternmost barrier islands. The Atlantic Ocean, Moriches Inlet and Moriches Bay s ...
.
Both breaches that occurred outside of the wilderness area, including the breach within Smith Point County Park, were quickly closed by multimillion-dollar dredging projects. As of 2015, the third breach at Old Inlet remains open while
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
officials debate whether to tamper with an event inside a
wilderness area
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
.
That breach was wide in April 2013. Breaches at Old Inlet have occurred before and closed on their own.
See also
*
Outer Barrier
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 I ...
*
Smith Point Bridge
The Smith Point Bridge is a steel bascule drawbridge in Shirley, New York that connects Long Island to Fire Island. Located on the south shore of central Suffolk County, the bridge carries William Floyd Parkway (Suffolk CR 46) across The Narrow ...
*
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 Is ...
*
Moriches Bay
Moriches Bay ( ) is a lagoon system on the south shore of Long Island, New York. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.
Two townships in Suffolk, New York ( Brookhaven and the Southampton) share i ...
References
External links
Smith Point County Park (Suffolk County Department of Parks)
{{Fire Island , state=expanded
Beaches of Suffolk County, New York
Fire Island, New York
Parks in Suffolk County, New York
Brookhaven, New York
Landforms of Suffolk County, New York