Sunken Meadow State Park

Sunken Meadow State Park, also known as Governor Alfred E. Smith State Park, is a state park located in the Town of Smithtown in Suffolk County, New York on the north shore of Long Island. The park, accessible via the Sunken Meadow State Parkway, contains the 27-hole Sunken Meadow State Park Golf Course and the Sunken Meadow Nature Center.

History The Long Island State Parks Commission acquired the initial 200 acres (81 ha) for Sunken Meadow State Park in 1926. The park expanded rapidly during its early years; a causeway connecting the mainland to the beach was completed in 1930, and annual visitation rose from about 160,000 that year to 290,000 in 1931.

A five-mile section of the Sunken Meadow State Parkway opened in 1957, providing direct parkway access to the park. Attendance reached a record 900,000 that year. Two nine-hole golf courses were constructed in the early 1960s, followed by a third course in 1964.

In 1993, New York State Parks commissioner Orin Lehman proposed renaming the property Governor Alfred E. Smith State Park. After objections to eliminating the historic Sunken Meadow name, the names were combined as Governor Alfred E. Smith/Sunken Meadow State Park.

Park description

Sunken Meadow State Park is open year-round from sunrise to sunset. The park's features include of beaches on the Long Island Sound, a boardwalk, of hiking trails, and facilities for biking, horseback riding, watersports, and general recreation. The park contains a variety of coastal habitats, including beaches, tidal creek and salt marsh, open water, and coastal oak–hickory woodland. Draft state management guidance identifies approximately 89 acres (36 ha) of low salt marsh and 450 acres (180 ha) of upland woodland. Its habitats support breeding and migratory birds including piping plovers, least terns, common terns and ospreys. Playgrounds, softball fields, and soccer fields are also available at the park.

Located in Sunken Meadow State Park is the Sunken Meadow Nature Center, which offers dozens of educational programs throughout the year.

A wedding and event facility known as "The Pavilion" is available during the summer.

The Sunken Meadow State Park Golf Course features 27 holes that may be played as either nine or 18 holes, in addition to a driving range and putting green. The first two nine-hole courses, Red and Green, were built in 1962, followed by the Blue Course in 1964. All three courses were designed by Alfred Tull. A bar and snack food restaurant near the course is available and open to the public year round.

The park's grounds are used as a venue for cross country running, and host competitions for cross country teams from local high schools and runners' clubs. The five-kilometer course, featuring the deliberately named "Cardiac Hill", is regarded as one of the most difficult cross country courses in the US.

The Long Island Greenbelt Trail connects Sunken Meadow State Park with Heckscher State Park.

Marsh Habitat Restoration In the 1950's, an earthen berm was constructed across the Sunken Meadow Creek to allow vehicular traffic, as well as control mosquito populations; This blocked tidal flow from entering the creek, allowing invasive plants such as Phragmites australis, to thrive and for pollution to build up.In 2008, New York State Parks, along with other organizations such as the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Long Island Sound Study, Save the Sound, and the National Fish and Wildlife Service, began researching the possibility of replacing the berm with a foot-bridge. In 2011, official planning commenced; in October 2012, the bridge design was complete.

On October 29th, 2012, then Hurricane Sandy brought strong winds, storm surge, and rainfall to the Long Island region, which blew out the berm. This caused tidal flow to be restored for the first time in decades and for invasive species to be pushed out of the marsh and native species to be reintroduced.

Construction of the bridge was completed in October 2013, one year after Hurricane Sandy. Numerous restoration projects have taken place since, such as planting projects for smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) and erosion control projects. In 2025, the National Audubon Society received a $1.5 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Long Island Sound Futures Fund for the first phase of additional marsh restoration. The project is intended to restore 14 acres (5.7 ha), including four acres of high marsh and ten acres of low marsh, in part by moving sediment from creek channels onto the marsh platform to increase its elevation. Audubon's longer-term restoration goal encompasses 70–80 acres (28–32 ha) of the marsh.

Since restoration began, the marsh has become an educational hub, with both the Sunken Meadow Nature Center and the Western Suffolk BOCES Outdoor Learning Lab using the area to teach students about habitat restoration and native wildlife.

Sunken Meadow State Park

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