West Meadow Beach Path Hike, Long Island

West Meadow Beach Path is a 2.4 mile there and back hike on the north shore of Suffok County, Long Island. This paved beach path is located off of West Meadow Beach, a Long Island Sound beach located in East Setauket. It includes a large beach area, a playground, sprinkler park, showers, volleyball court, gazebo, walking trail and environmental programs.

West Meadow Beach faces West making for BEAUTIFUL SUNSETS!

Resident parking is $5 daily, one-year seasonal $15 ($10 if purchased before Memorial Day weekend), $5 for seniors, veterans and handicapped when purchased in advance. Nonresident parking at Sound and bay beaches $20 daily; one-year seasonal permit $250; weekly rate $100. There is nobody at the booth checking for Brookhaven stickers during the winter months.

In December 2004, the cottages along the beach were removed, and the process was begun to restore the beach. A total of four cottages were preserved for public purposes. Three are reserved for use by the Brookhaven Town Parks Department, Public Safety Department, and Division of Environmental Protection, to assist in ecosystem protection of this parkland and in education of the public.

West Meadow Beach is bordered by marshland which attracts various bird species. The path runs through the West Meadow Wetlands Reserve. As you walk from the parking lot down the path along the peninsula, the Long Island Sound is to the west and the West Meadow Creek is to the east. The tidal wetlands include salt marsh vegetation, including taller smooth cordgrass in the low marsh and saltmeadow cordgrass in the high marsh. The low marsh is covered with water during high tide when water moves north into the creek.

The trail down West Meadow lane is used for walking, jogging, & biking and is accessible year round. At the southern most end of the peninsula you will find Gamecock Cottage, a historic building built in 1876 for storage of oars and sliding-seat rowboats and is the only remaining wooden beach cottage that was part of West Meadow Beach.

The West Meadow Wetlands Reserve is home to many species of shore birds and song birds, including the endangered piping plovers and least terns, along with egrets, herons and osprey. It is designated as a New York State Significant Coastal Fish & Wildlife Habitat, and a Long Island Sound Study Stewardship Area.

In the spring the beaches are covered with mating horseshoe crabs. You can join the horseshoe crab tagging project or moonlight monitoring sessions with the West Meadow Beach environmental educator. The boy scouts participate in programs to satisfy their environmental badges. Local schools have built three chimney swift towers near the parking lot along with three bat houses in the park.