Sunken Meadow Beach

Address: P.O. Box 716, Kings Park, NY

Phone Number: 631-269-4333

Web Site: http://www.nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkId=44

Officially named after New York’s beloved governor of the 1920s -- a man who championed the idea of public spaces for public health -- Gov. Alfred E. Smith/Sunken Meadow Park (Sunken Meadow to most people) is one of the finest Sound-side parks on Long Island, in part because of its diversity of terrain and activities. Here, there are glacially formed cliffs, a salt marsh, a forest behind it, and of course a low meadowland that separates the sandy Sound beach from the uplands -- the so-called “sunken meadow” that gave the park its original name.

There are miles of hiking trails here; a ¾-mile-long boardwalk; a 27-hole golf course, three playgrounds, softball field and soccer fields and eight basketball courts. And at the end of the day, when you’re pooped from all your activity at this active beach, you can relax in the shade of one of the old sycamore trees near the WPA-built entrance pavilion.