Oak Street Beach In West Haven

The West Haven shoreline has an impressive network of beaches and parks providing 3.5 miles of  public coastal access. Many of these spaces are linked by a 1.7 mile walkway, or "urban greenway", which extends from Sandy Point to Bradley Point. Once the site of the Savin Rock Amusement Park, the city displayed remarkable foresight by purchasing this land after the park closed in the 1960's.
One of the more popular destinations is Oak Street Beach, which includes a sandy beach, fishing pier, activity building, and bocce court. Connecting the walkway to the beach and pier is a large deck that has become the focus of a local, heated debate.
For two decades, the deck has been the site of evening dances, complete with disc-jockeys and large audiences. In 2009 however, a woman fell, broke her pelvis, and threatened West Haven with a lawsuit.

According to the New Haven Register:
"The city, armed with a letter from its insurance carrier,..... said the city-owned deck wasn’t made for dancing, needs repair and is unsafe".
The city wants "to move the dances to a concrete pad in the nearby Old Grove Park".
"The Parks and Recreation Commission also wants to require the volunteer DJs to pay $100 a year for permits and may require them to buy their own liability insurance."

I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but when I stopped by in late November, winter was fast approaching and there were no dancers to be found. Instead I spent a snowy day in January trying to brush up on the issue by forcing myself to sit through the directors cut of Footloose and Dirty Dancing. Research can be painfully exhausting sometimes!

I don't know if the dances have continued, been shut down, or moved to another location. Hopefully a compromise can be reached.

There is, however, one happy outcome from this story. I found a YouTube video from a 2008 dance at Oak Street Beach. It was comforting to learn that there are actually people who exist with worse wardrobes and dance skills than yours truly.

New Haven Register: Threat To Close Popular Music Spot Hits Sour Note

CT Coastal Access Guide: Oak Street Beach

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Gulf Beach Pier

Gulf Beach Pier, Milford; with Charles Island in the distance.

CT Coastal Access Guide: Gulf Beach
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Al Bennett Pier

Al Bennett Pier, Bridgeport; March 2010

CT Coastal Access Guide: Seaside Park
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Stepping Stones Pier

Most of the big shore places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. And as the moon rose higher the inessential houses began to melt away until gradually I became aware of the old island here that flowered once for Dutch sailors’ eyes — a fresh, green breast of the new world. Its vanished trees, the trees that had made way for Gatsby’s house, had once pandered in whispers to the last and greatest of all human dreams; for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.


And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock. He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it. He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.
Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning .....

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

F. Scott Fitzgerald; The Great Gatsby; 1925

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Great Neck Parks District: Sailing & Kayaking Programs
New York Times: Eyeing The Unreal Of Gatsby Esq.

Milton Point Pier

Milton Point, Rye, October 2010
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Northport Village Pier

A friend of mine considers Northport  to be the nicest harbor on Long Island Sound. I wouldn't go that far, but I can certainly understand why he would make such a claim. It has a lot of positive attributes: a fjord-like harbor that is well protected; a walkable village ; and a waterfront park with this attractive pier.

There has been a public dock here since the early 19th century, but by 1920, it had fallen into decay along with much of the surrounding waterfront. It was at this time that the village purchased the land to form the waterfront park that exists today. 

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Northport Village Dock: Snow Photos 

JoAnn Corretti Painting Gallery: Northport Village Dock 

West Wharf In Madison

The shoreline towns between New Haven and Old Lyme provide some of the most restrictive coastal access on Long Island Sound. There are a few exceptions, but most of the beaches and parks (and the roads that lead to them) are private communities. Apparently, it is illegal to walk down a public street, even in October. The corrupt and scandal-plagued Madison Police Department may turn a blind eye to prostitution and drug rings, but they still view an outsider taking pictures on the beach as a serious offense. To make a long story short, two squad cars arrived, and I got the hell out of town.

West Wharf in Madison is a small, resident only park that consists of a fishing pier, and some large rock outcroppings that provide excellent views of Falkner Island. When I visited this week, the demolition of the nearby Madison Beach Hotel attracted a small crowd to watch the destruction. With only residents of Madison in the crowd, the park was secure, and nothing could ever go wrong.

CT Coastal Access Guide: West Wharf

NY Times: Sprawling Exercise In Police Corruption

WSFB: Madison Prostitution Scandal

WTNH: Madison PD Needs Improvement

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Playland Pier & Boardwalk

I like it here best in the Spring and Fall. Unlike many amusement parks, Playland Park in Rye is an attractive waterfront destination. Opened in 1928, this county park has many art-deco buildings, as well as a great deal of open space. It is an amusement park with an emphasis on the word park. I think the only major flaw is that the beach area is too small. Playland is scheduled to open for the season on May 9, which also means that fees and crowds will be a daily feature. I took these photos on a warm November day last autumn. Quite a few people were taking advantage of the weather, but the size of the park easily absorbed the small, off-season crowd. The pier underwent extensive renovations in the early 1990s. From the 1930s through the 1950s, large excursion steamers brought passengers to this pier. Two ships, the Americana and the Westchester carried passengers daily from Battery Park to Rye. The Wauketa traveled here from New Jersey. Despite the renovations, the pier still maintains the historic feel of an old ferry terminal. Playland Park YouTube: Dragon Coaster 1929 (?) YouTube: Polar Plunge December 2008 Flickr: Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins in Big Flickr: Playland Pier Painting Rye:Playland Boardwalk My Rye: 1950 Aerial Photo

The Boardwalk At Sunken Meadow

After a week or so of temperatures in the teens, yesterday's thermometer reaching 30 degrees seemed like a warm spell. I took advantage of the "heat wave" by visiting Al Smith/Sunken Meadow State Park in Smithtown. This is a LARGE park, both in acreage and waterfront. It originally opened as a 520 acre park in 1930, and has expanded to over 1,200 acres through the acquisition of adjacent properties. In 1992, the name of the park was changed to honor former Governor Alfred E. Smith, who played a vital role in the creation of many New York metropolitan area parks.

 I focused my visit on the three-mile beach area which includes a boardwalk that lines a portion of the beach. Despite the morning snowfall, there were a considerable number of people walking the 3/4-mile deck that was free of snow and ice. Smithtown Bay was silent, with barely a ripple on the surface. The sky had a low, gray layer that thwarted any long distance visibility. The only landmark I could see was a foggy and blurry Crane Neck, several miles to the northeast. A few gulls used their beaks as icepicks, digging through the snow and ice to reach the shells and sand below. Several Canadian Geese got some much needed rest and relaxation, after a busy week of sabotaging departing jets at LaGuardia Airport. Like many state parks, there is a certain generic quality to the architecture here. Most of the buildings and structures are nearly identical to those found at other state parks in the Adirondacks and Hudson Valley. Even the railings along the boardwalk looked familiar. This however, is really a small complaint that rests more in a quirky pet-peeve of mine, than in any legitimate criticism. The state park system is so extensive that creating and maintaining unique, locally influenced structures would not be cost effective. In the end, it is the park itself that matters, not the refreshment stands.

I reached the end of the boardwalk, and continued walking westward along the beach. At this point, there were no footprints in the snow, and everything seemed silent. The glacier-formed bluffs rose in the distance, blocking from sight the four stacks of the Keyspan Power Station in Northport. I have seen those stacks from as far away as New Haven, CT, and Westchester County, NY. I found it amazing to be so close to them, yet unable to see them. Sometimes, "not seeing the forest for the trees" is an admirable quality.

I reached an area of the beach that was quite icy and dangerous, so I turned around, and made my way back. I came upon a friendly couple who were taking a break from their cross-country skiing. They were quite familiar with the park, and were able to describe some trails, and a marshland area that I was not aware of. This is the type of park where one can visit many times, and still find new places to explore. There is too much here to discover on one Sunday afternoon in January.

 AL SMITH/SUNKEN MEADOW STATE PARK: WebAlbum Map

Niantic Boardwalk

It is a busy strip of land. The narrow sand barrier that separates the Niantic River from Niantic Bay is only a few hundred feet wide, and most of it is consumed by Route 156 and railroad tracks. The Millstone Nuclear Power Station is in full view to the southeast. Despite the less than ideal surroundings, East Lyme and the village of Niantic have been very creative in making this stretch of shoreline attractive and accessible.

The Niantic Boardwalk is a recent addition that extends about a mile along Railroad Beach (or Amtrak Beach). The boardwalk, combined with a walkway, links Hole In The Wall Beach with Cini Park. There are benches along the way, as well as ramps that lead down to the beach. The beach appears to be popular with fishermen. Restrictions at nearby beaches, along with the strong currents here, are most likely the reason. I couldn't help but laugh though when I looked at one of my pictures of a fisherman with the nuclear plant in the background.

 I visited recently on a late afternoon. I started in Cini Park and reached the boardwalk by proceeding on a path under the railroad bridge. There are interpretive signs along the way that address the ecology of the area and the efforts taken to create this park. The East Lyme Public Land Trust has raised funds through a sponsorship program. The rails and benches along the boardwalk are decorated with nameplates of those who have contributed to the cause. It is nice to see such enthusiastic support from so many people.

 A nice feature about the boardwalk is that combined with the neighboring parks, one can walk the shoreline from McCook Park all the way to Cini Park. It is an extensive stretch of public shoreline. I walked the full length of the boardwalk before turning around and working my way back. I thought it was odd that I had not seen any trains pass while I was there. Sure enough, as I was looking out at Plum Island, an Amtrak train came roaring by. A few minutes later, there was another, and then a third just minutes after that. Like so many things in our lives, it is always feast or famine.

 NIANTIC WebAlbum