Oak Beach is a small community and

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 counte ...

located near the eastern end of Jones Beach Island, a

barrier island Barrier islands are a Coast#Landforms, coastal landform, a type of dune, dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of an ...

between the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and the Great South Bay of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. The community is part of the village of

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County ( ) is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York, constituting the eastern two-thirds of Long Island. It is bordered to its west by Nassau County, to its east by Gardiners Bay and the open Atlantic Ocean, to its no ...

, United States. The eastern part, the Oak Island Beach Association, is gated, whereas the western part is not. The Oak Beach CDP was first listed prior to the 2020 census. Prior to that the community was part of the Oak Beach–Captree census-designated place.

History and amenities

Oak Beach has been inhabited since at least the first decade of the twentieth century, when a U.S. Coast Guard lifesaving station was located there, although it could not be reached overland at that time. Prior to that, marsh bird hunters had kept shacks in the area.

Ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

access from Babylon enabled cottages to be built and made more accessible by car after construction of Ocean Parkway; it was largely a summer community until the completion of the Robert Moses Causeway in 1951, which allowed much faster travel from the main part of Long Island. It has gradually evolved since then to become a location where most residents live year-round.

Geography

Oak Beach is in southwestern Suffolk County, in the southeast part of the village of Babylon. The census-designated place includes the community of Oak Beach on Jones Beach Island, as well as the community of Oak Island, directly to the north. The CDP is bordered to the east by Captree State Park and to the west by Gilgo State Park. To the south is the west 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. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy once again divided Fire Island into two islands. Together, these two isl ...

Ownership

The land is not owned by the residents but is on long-term

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

from the Village of Babylon. In the early 1990s, New York State litigated against extension of the lease. After much negotiation, including detailed

environmental impact statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...

s, the lease was renewed (currently through 2050), although with a ramp up in costs. In 2012, the Village of Babylon agreed to extend the current leases through 2065.

Shannan Gilbert

On May 1, 2010
Shannan Gilbert
an aspiring actress from Jersey City, N.J., who worked as an escort, disappeared after a job in Oak Beach’s gated community. While searching for Gilbert, the police found the remains of 10 bodies miles away near Gilgo Beach—some in December 2010 and others in April 2011—an

from where Gilbert’s body was eventually discovered
Authorities
believe Gilbert got lost within the marsh land and died from either exposure or accidental drowning. On November 29, 2011, the police announced their belief that one person is responsible for all 10 deaths (whom the press refers to at various times as: "the Long Island serial killer", "LISK", "the Gilgo Beach Killer", or "the Craigslist Ripper"), and that they did not believe the case of Gilbert, who went missing before the first set of bodies was found, was related. "It is clear that the area in and around Gilgo Beach has been used to discard human remains for some period of time," said Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota. On December 10, 2015, Suffolk County Police announced that the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

had officially joined the investigation. A spokesperson for the FBI confirmed the announcement. The FBI had previously assisted in the search for victims, but was never officially part of the investigation until this announcement. A crucial break in this case came in January 2023, and in July 2023 police arreste
Rex Heuermann
a Manhattan architect—whose clients included Catholic Charities, American Airlines, and other tenants at John F. Kennedy, Jr. International Airport—who resided in Massapequa Park. As of June 2024, Heuermann has been charged with the killing of five of these individuals, with the investigation ongoing. The Gilbert Family’s attorne
John Ray
stated that Shannan Gilbert will be remembered as the woman who by her death exposed this killer and the truth.

Education

It is in the Babylon Union Free School District.
Text list
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References

{{authority control Babylon (town), New York Beaches of Suffolk County, New York Geography of Suffolk County, New York Populated coastal places in New York (state) Census-designated places in Suffolk County, New York Census-designated places in New York (state)