Napeague State Park
History
Napeague State Park's land was initially purchased by the Nature Conservancy in 1976 and conveyed to New York State in 1978. It consists mostly of wetlands in areas where waves washed over Long Island during the Great Hurricane of 1938.
Napeague was the location of the crash of American Airlines Flight 1502 in 1961, resulting in the deaths of 6 aboard.
Description
There is virtually no infrastructure or permitted camping at the park, which is administered by nearby Hither Hills State Park. Its most distinguishing natural feature, a pristine Atlantic Ocean beach, is usually closed during the summer because the endangered piping plover nests near the beach.
A landmark within the park is the huge abandoned Smith Meal fish factory in an area on Gardiners Bay called Promised Land. A controversy rages after Cross Sound Ferry said it wanted to start ferry service from the Promised Land terminal across Long Island Sound to New London, Connecticut. There is currently no service connecting the South Fork of Long Island to Connecticut and its Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos. The only ferry service on the east end of Long Island goes from Orient Point on the North Fork and North Fork residents said this creates traffic jams on its two-lane roads. The Town of East Hampton has so far successfully fought any proposal to start ferry service there.
See also
References
- ^ "Section O: Environmental Conservation and Recreation, Table O-9". 2014 New York State Statistical Yearbook (PDF). The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government. 2014. p. 673. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 16, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
- ^ "State Park Annual Attendance Figures by Facility: Beginning 2003". Data.ny.gov. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
- ^ Napeague State Park (New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Botany Online)