Heckscher State Park

State park in New York, United States

For the NRHP registered local park in Huntington, New York, see Heckscher Park (Huntington, New York).

Not to be confused with Heckscher State Parkway.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Heckscher State Park" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

|

Heckscher State Park

Dunes in Heckscher State Park

Location of Heckscher State Park within New York State

Show map of New York

Heckscher State Park (the United States)

Show map of the United States

Type| State park
Location| Heckscher Parkway Field 1
East Islip, New York[1]
Nearest city| East Islip, New York
Coordinates| 40°42′N 73°10′W﻿ / ﻿40.70°N 73.16°W﻿ / 40.70; -73.16
Area| 1,657 acres (6.71 km2)[2]
Created| February 1929 (1929-02)[3]
Operated by| New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation
Visitors| 982,530 (in 2014)[4]
Open| All year
Website| Heckscher State Park

Heckscher State Park is a 1,657-acre (6.71 km2) state park[2] on the shore of the Great South Bay at East Islip in Suffolk County, New York, USA.

## History[edit]

The park includes 1,469 acres (5.94 km2) that was once the 19th-century estates of George C. Taylor and J. Neal Plum. Islip's founder, William Nicoll, originally built his estate on this property. The Long Island State Park Commission, led by Robert Moses, expropriated the property in 1924, an action found to be illegal by the state's highest court on the grounds that the law did not permit such expropriation when the Commission did not have the funds to pay for the property; however, in the meantime, the Commission had retained control of the property.[5] Despite opposition from wealthy local residents, the parkland was finally purchased by New York State with the aid of a donation from August Heckscher. The park officially opened in February 1929.[1][3]

Beginning in 1972 and continuing until 2008, the New York Philharmonic played at Heckscher State Park as part of its free "Concerts in the Parks" series. The annual event was held on summer evenings in an open field near the campground and was open to the public. In 2009, the New York Philharmonic chose to cancel the event for the summer of that year due to financial constraints. After one year without a concert at the park, the Long Island Philharmonic was able to put on a successful performance in 2010. The new generation of concerts commenced with a theme of American composers, including George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, John Philip Sousa, John Williams, and Billy Joel.

## Park description[edit]

View from beach to the Great South Bay

Heckscher offers a beach, picnic tables with pavilions, a playground, playing fields and a disc golf course, recreation programs, hiking and biking, fishing, cross-country skiing, a boat launch, and a food concession. It includes the Heckscher Forest, a dedicated disc golf course established in the summer of 2014. The park formerly offered a campground with tent and trailer sites, as well as an Olympic-sized swimming pool, which were closed due to budget cuts.

Heckscher State Park is known as the "Home of the White-tailed Deer", as deer are fairly populous throughout the park.[citation needed] Additionally, about 280 bird species can be observed in the park.[6]

The park is accessible by the Heckscher State Parkway, and falls within the district protected by the Great River Fire Department.

The Long Island Greenbelt Trail starts its 31-mile (50 km) route in Heckscher State Park. It ends in Sunken Meadow State Park.

## See also[edit]

* List of New York state parks

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b "Heckscher State Park". NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
2. ^ a b "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. 672\. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 16, 2015. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
3. ^ a b Natural Heritage Trust; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; New York State Council of Parks & Recreation (1975). Fifty Years: New York State Parks, 1924-1974. Natural Heritage Trust. p. 19.[permanent dead link]
4. ^ "State Park Annual Attendance Figures by Facility: Beginning 2003". Data.ny.gov. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
5. ^ "Pauchogue Land Corp. v. State Park Comm (243 NY 15)". Retrieved February 3, 2020.
6. ^ "Birds of Heckscher State Park" (PDF). NYS Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation. Retrieved September 1, 2016.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Heckscher State Park.

* New York State Parks: Heckscher State Park
* Long Island Philharmonic at Heckscher Park

* v
* t
* e

Protected areas of New York

Federal

| National Historic
Sites and Historical Parks|

* Eleanor Roosevelt
* Harriet Tubman
* Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Martin Van Buren
* Sagamore Hill
* Saint Paul's Church
* Saratoga
* Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace
* Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural
* Women's Rights
* Kate Mullany
* affiliated
* Thomas Cole
* affiliated

|

National Memorials|

* Federal Hall
* General Grant
* Hamilton Grange
* Statue of Liberty

National monuments|

* African Burial Ground
* Castle Clinton
* Fort Stanwix
* Governors Island
* Stonewall

National Trails|

* Appalachian Trail
* North Country Trail

National Seashores
and Recreation Areas|

* Fire Island
* Gateway
* Upper Delaware

National Wildlife
Refuges|

* Iroquois
* Long Island Complex
* Amagansett
* Conscience Point
* Elizabeth A. Morton
* Lido Beach
* Oyster Bay
* Sayville
* Seatuck
* Target Rock
* Wertheim
* Montezuma
* Shawangunk Grasslands
* Wallkill River

National Forests|

* Finger Lakes

Wilderness Areas|

* Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune

State parks

* Allen H. Treman
* Allegany
* Amherst
* Amsterdam Beach
* Battle Island
* Bayard Cutting Arboretum
* Bayswater Point
* Bear Mountain
* Beaver Island
* Beechwood
* Belmont Lake
* Bethpage
* Betty & Wilbur Davis
* Big Six Mile Creek
* Blauvelt
* Bonavista
* Bowman Lake
* Braddock Bay
* Brentwood
* Bristol Beach
* Brookhaven
* Buckhorn Island
* Buffalo Harbor
* Burnham Point
* Buttermilk Falls
* Caleb Smith
* Camp Hero
* Canandaigua Lake
* Canoe-Picnic Point
* Captree
* Catharine Valley Trail
* Caumsett
* Cayuga Lake
* Cedar Island
* Cedar Point
* Chenango Valley
* Cherry Plain
* Chimney Bluffs
* Chittenango Falls
* Clarence Fahnestock
* Clark Reservation
* Clay Pit Ponds
* Cold Spring Harbor
* Coles Creek
* Conesus Lake
* Connetquot River
* Crab Island
* Croil Island
* Cumberland Bay
* Darien Lakes
* De Veaux Woods
* Deans Cove
* Delta Lake
* Devil's Hole
* Dewolf Point
* Donald J. Trump
* Earl W. Brydges Artpark
* Eel Weir
* Empire – Fulton Ferry
* Evangola
* Fair Haven Beach
* Fillmore Glen
* Fort Niagara
* Four Mile Creek
* Franklin D. Roosevelt
* Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms
* Franny Reese
* Frenchman Island
* Galop Island
* Gantry Plaza
* Genesee Valley Greenway
* Gilbert Lake
* Gilgo
* Glimmerglass
* Golden Hill
* Goosepond Mountain
* Grafton Lakes
* Grass Point
* Green Lakes
* Hallock
* Hamlin Beach
* Harriet Hollister Spencer
* Harriman
* Hart's Brook
* Haverstraw Beach
* Heckscher
* Helen L. McNitt
* Hempstead Lake
* High Tor
* Highland Lakes
* Higley Flow
* Hither Hills
* Honeoye
* Hook Mountain
* Hudson Highlands
* Hudson River Islands
* Hudson River
* Hunts Pond
* Iona Island
* Irondequoit Bay
* Jacques Cartier
* James Baird
* John Boyd Thacher
* Jones Beach
* Joseph Davis
* Keewaydin
* Keuka Lake
* Knox Farm
* Kring Point
* Lake Erie
* Lake Lauderdale
* Lake Superior
* Lake Taghkanic
* Lakeside Beach
* Letchworth
* Lock 32
* Lodi Point
* Long Point - Finger Lakes
* Long Point - Thousand Islands
* Long Point on Lake Chautauqua
* Macomb Reservation
* Margaret Lewis Norrie
* Marsha P. Johnson
* Mark Twain
* Mary Island
* Max V. Shaul
* Mexico Point
* Midway
* Mine Kill
* Minnewaska
* Mohawk River
* Montauk Downs
* Montauk Point
* Moreau Lake
* Napeague
* Newtown Battlefield
* Niagara Falls
* Nissequogue River
* Nyack Beach
* Oak Orchard
* Ogden Mills & Ruth Livingston Mills
* Old Croton Aqueduct
* Old Erie Canal
* Oquaga Creek
* Orient Beach
* Peebles Island
* Pinnacle
* Pixley Falls
* Point Au Roche
* Reservoir
* Riverbank
* Robert G. Wehle
* Robert H. Treman
* Robert Moses - Long Island
* Robert Moses - Thousand Islands
* Robert V. Riddell
* Roberto Clemente
* Rockefeller
* Rock Island Lighthouse
* Rockland Lake
* Sampson
* Sandy Island Beach
* Saratoga Lake
* Saratoga Spa
* Schodack Island
* Schunemunk Mountain
* Selkirk Shores
* Seneca Lake
* Shadmoor
* Shirley Chisholm
* Silver Lake
* Sonnenberg Gardens
* Southwick Beach
* St. Lawrence
* State Park at the Fair
* Sterling Forest
* Steuben Memorial
* Stony Brook
* Storm King
* Strawberry Island
* Sunken Meadow
* Taconic
* Tallman Mountain
* Taughannock Falls
* Thompson's Lake
* Two Rivers
* Trail View
* Valley Stream
* Verona Beach
* Walkway over the Hudson
* Waterson Point
* Watkins Glen
* Wellesley Island
* Westcott Beach
* Whetstone Gulf
* Whirlpool
* Wildwood
* Wilson-Tuscarora
* Wonder Lake
* Woodlawn Beach

State historic sites

* Bennington Battlefield
* Caumsett
* Clermont
* Clinton House
* Crailo
* Crown Point
* Darwin D. Martin House
* Fort Montgomery
* Fort Ontario
* Ganondagan
* Grant Cottage
* Herkimer Home
* Hyde Hall
* John Brown Farm
* John Burroughs Memorial (Woodchuck Lodge)
* John Hay Homestead
* Johnson Hall
* Knox's Headquarters
* Lorenzo
* New Windsor Cantonment
* Olana
* Old Croton Aqueduct
* Old Erie Canal
* Old Fort Niagara
* Oriskany Battlefield
* Philipse Manor Hall
* Plantings Fields Arboretum
* Sackets Harbor Battlefield
* Schoharie Crossing
* Schuyler Mansion
* Senate House
* Sonnenberg Gardens & Mansion
* Staatsburgh
* Steuben Memorial
* Stony Point Battlefield
* Walt Whitman Birthplace
* Washington's Headquarters

Preserves and sanctuaries

| Public
preserves|

* Albany Pine Bush
* Forest Preserve
* Adirondack Park
* Saint Regis Canoe Area
* Santanoni Preserve
* wilderness areas
* Catskill Park
* Hudson River Estuary
* Long Island Pine Barrens
* Reinstein Woods
* Rome Sand Plains
* Tahawus
* Vischer Ferry
* Welwyn

|

The Nature
Conservacy|

* Accabonac Harbor
* Andy Warhol Visual Arts
* Arthur W. Butler Memorial
* Atlantic Double Dunes
* Bear Swamp
* Calverton Ponds
* Chaumont Barrens
* Clintonville Pine Barrens
* Coon Mountain
* Deer Lick
* Denton
* El Dorado Beach
* Eugene and Agnes Meyer
* Everton Falls
* Freund
* Gadway Sandstone Pavement Barrens
* Hannacroix Ravine
* Henry Morgenthau
* Indian Brook Assemblage
* Ironsides Island
* Kenrose
* Limestone Rise
* Lisha Kill
* Long Island Center for Conservation
* Long Pond
* Lordsland
* Lower Poultney River and Saddles
* Marrion Yarrow
* Mashomack
* Mianus River Gorge
* Mildred E. Grierson Memorial
* Moccasin Kill
* Montauk Mountain
* Moss Lake
* Mount Holly
* Nellie Hill
* Neversink
* O.D. von Engeln
* Otter Creek
* Pawling
* Peconic Estuary Big Woods
* Pine Neck
* Roger Perry Memorial
* Ruth Wales
* Schunemunk Mountain
* Shadmoor
* Silver Lake Bog
* Spring Pond Bog
* Stewart
* Lewis A. Swyer
* Thompson Pond and Stissing Mountain
* Uplands Farm
* West Branch
* Whitbeck Memorial Grove

Other
preserves|

* Angle Fly
* Baxter
* Bergen-Byron Swamp
* Black Rock Forest
* Brandreth Park
* Calder Center
* Louis C. Clark
* Cornell Botanic Gardens
* Ferncliff Forest
* Heiberg Memorial Forest
* James
* Lime Hollow
* Mohonk
* Peabody
* Plotter Kill
* Sagamore Camp
* Sam's Point
* Teatown Lake
* Turkey Mountain
* Turner Brook
* Theodore Roosevelt
* Wallkill Valley
* Woodlawn
* Zurich Bog

Other (lists)

* National Historic Landmarks
* National Natural Landmarks
* Botanical gardens
* Nature centers
* New York City parks
* POPS
* WWI
* New York state
* forests
* wild
* historic sites
* parks
* wildlife management areas
* Trails
* rail trails

* Category
* Erie County
* Nassau County
* New York City
* NYS DEC
* NYS OPRHP
* Commons

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template