Jamaica Bay Greenway

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Canarsie
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by on the map by Flag Poles located at greenway access
points and points of interest.
91st St.
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102
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East
Flatbush
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BROOKLYN
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1.2
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Ride Sections and distances are indicated
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Boating and Kay a king launch permits can be
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The Brooklyn Waterfront Epic Ride is an Annual 40-mile summer bike tour around the entire Brooklyn
waterfront and on to the Rockaways. The Ride illustrates
the vision of a completed waterfront greenway, and Ride
participants experience the amazing waterfront vistas and
interesting waterfront neighborhoods of the Jamaica Bay
and Brooklyn Waterfront Greenways. To receive information
about the next Epic Ride email [email protected].
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2.4 mi
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➜ CALL: While on a tour, dial 347- 422-7952 and enter the
RockSpot site code, (e.g., H109) to hear audio descriptions
for each site.
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9. Breezy
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Breezy
Point
3. Fort
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3.9 m
Rockaway Po
3.8 mi
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2. Jacob Riis
Park
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6. R
P107
B100
P100
Note: Bicycles Permitted
5am - 10am only
MichaelisBayswater
Park
LIRR
Jamaica Bay
Greenway Routes
A
Protected Bike Path
H104
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Bicycle Lane: An on-street striped route
3.8 mi
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Firehouse 59
F102
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P100
E106
Brooklyn
Bike Routes
Shared Lane: An on-street marked route
6. Rockaway Beach
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Beach C
Beach 73
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H110
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Rockaway
6 St.
Beach 11
1.7 mi
H109
Riis
Landing
Dubos
Point
Must walk bikes on sidewalk
P105
Rockaway Point Bvld. is the suggested route through Breezy Point
ay B
E101
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l Dr
➜ WEB: rockspotnyc.org
Edgemere
Park
Must walk bikes on East sidewalk
New York Beach Ferry service varies seasonally.
For schedules and additional info visit:
http://newyorkbeachferry.com or call 718-474-0593.
➜ TEXT: Text the 4 digits site code to 815-714-8937 and
receive text descriptions on your mobile phone device.
Jamaica
Bay Park
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Manhattan
Beach
Aviator
Sports
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E100
Broad
Channel
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4. Plumb Beach
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1. Floyd Bennett
Field
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Brighton
Beach
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1.1
Coney
Island
Use the RockSpot Tour to learn more about sites
throughout the Rockaways on your phone, or on the web:
2.5
E107
Neptune Av
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way Beach. However, because of powerful rip currents and
changing life guard stations, swimming with extreme caution is advised. For more information on swimming conditions please contact NYC 311.
5. Jamaica Bay
Wildlife Refuge
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Swimming is popular at Jacob Riis Park and Rocka-
JFK
Airport
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Sheepshead
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3 mi
Mill
Basin
Gravesend
obtained through NPS for GNRA launch sites or NYC Parks
and Recreation for City Park launch sites. For boating rules,
Brookville
regulations, and safety tips visit: www.nycgovparks.org/
rules
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7. CPier
Bergen
Beach
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Marine
Park
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Bedford Av
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3.8 mi
Bensonhurst
th
56st St.
Midwood
80
Fishing is subject to New York State Regulation. Permits
and licenses can be obtained through the National Park
Service (NPS) and other issuing agents. For more information visit: http://www.nps.gov/gate/planyourvisit/ or call
(718) 338-3799.
Kayak
Launch Site
Proposed Future
Greenway Routes
Bike Shop/
Bike Rentals
Proposed Future
Bicycle Routes
Ferry
Landing
2
Subway
Terminal
Rides Distance
Marker
Subway
Stop
Rockspot Site
Restrooms
Attractions
1. Floyd Bennett Field
6. Rockaway Beach & Boardwalk
Floyd Bennett Field was originally Barren Island and
the site of an early New York City garbage processing facility. In 1931 it was transformed into New York
City’s first municipal airport and served as a major
Naval-Air Station during WWII. The airport was
Flickr: angrywhitekid
the great fishing and swimming beaches, or view the
historic military installations. You can also experience
a Rockaway Artists Alliance sponsored art exhibit or
a Rockaway Theater Company performance, which
take place in old military base buildings. For more
info visit: rockawayartistsalliance.org and rockawaytheatrecompany.org.
Greenway
4. Plumb Beach
Jamaica Bay
A User’s Guide to the
About
The 2012 User’s Guide to the Jamaica Bay was
made possible in part by a grant from the National
Park Service Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Program.
Cover Photo: Don Reipe
decommissioned in favor of other larger airports
that currently serve the city. As part of Gateway
National Recreation Area, it is now one of New York’s
largest public parks. The Field has become home to
numerous outdoor activities including flying model
airplanes, fishing, camping, hiking, cycling, bird
watching, gardening, and golf at the Brooklyn Golf
Center. Whether you marvel at the historic airplanes
and hangers or play a game of basketball at Aviator
Sports recreation center, Floyd Bennett Field has it all.
For more info visit: http://www.nps.gov/fopo/planyourvisit/things2do.htm or call the visitors center (718)
338-3799.
5. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge is one of the most
significant bird sanctuaries in the Northeastern
United States and one of the best places in New York
City to observe migrating species, with more than
330 different species sighted over the last 25 years.
Visitors can explore the refuge’s 9,155 acres of salt
2. Jacob Riis Park
Created in 1912, Jacob Riis Park has had many lives.
Originally a United States Naval Air Station in the
1920s, it became one of Robert Moses’ iconic beaches. Today you can visit the boardwalk, have a bite to
eat, visit the historic bathhouse, or pass time playing
basketball, tennis or playing golf on the 18 hole pitch
and putt.
3. Fort Tilden
Established as a U.S. Army Coast Artillery Post in
1917, Fort Tilden was key in the protection of the New
York Harbor during WWI & WWII. Today you can
visit beautiful maritime forests or sand dunes, enjoy
7. Canarsie Pier
AN EXTRAORDINARY PLACE!
Jamaica Bay is a tidal estuary, one of the most productive ecosystems on the planet. For thousands
of years, the Bay’s shallow water and nutrient rich
tides and streams have provided food and shelter
for fish and wildlife. This natural abundance continues to attract millions of birds as they migrate
north and south every spring and fall.
Native American tribes, like the Canarsie,
also prized the Bay for fishing and hunting, and
had settlements in the area. The first Europeans
arrived in the mid 17th Century when the Dutch
West India Company settled Jamaica Bay. By the
late 19th century the Bay became a major seaport
and its physical form was forever changed. Growing industry required the digging of broad channels. Dredge spoils were used to fill in marshes
allowing the construction of docks and piers.
The Bay also became a place for disposing of the
waste from the growing city, with refuse disposed
of in landfills and sewage flowing into its waters.
In the early 20th century, the Bay took on a military identity. Floyd Bennett Field and Fort Tilden
served to protect New York City from naval attack
during both WWI and WWII.
Just some of the people who can help you enjoy the Bay
A product of New York’s industrial past, Canarsie Pier
was a center for commercial fishing. Operations were
shut down when urbanization made the fish unfit for
consumption in the 1920s. With cleaner water and
demand for recreational space, the rebuilt pier is now
open for fishing, picnicking, and more.
One of the least disturbed natural areas of Gateway
National Recreation Area, Breezy Point Tip is an
isolated peninsula beach fronting Jamaica Bay. This
wild western most tip of Rockaway Peninsula features
over 200 acres of oceanfront beach, bay shoreline,
sand dunes, marshes and coastal grasslands. Breezy
Point Tip is a perfect destination for fishing or walking against the scenic backdrop of distant Manhattan
vistas.
Flickr: soupshow
Bike Shops
Roy’s Sheepshead Cycle
2679 Coney Island Avenue
Brooklyn, (718) 648-1440
Larry’s Cycle Shop
1854 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn, (718) 377-3600
Mini Mall
430 Beach 129th St.
Rockaway, (718) 945-6787
Surfing
Boarders
192 Beach 92nd St.
Rockaway Beach,
(718) 318-7997
boarderssurfshop.com
Fishing Charters
Karen Ann Charters
16245 Cross Bay Blvd.
Howard Beach,
(516) 728-6952
karenanncharters.com
Rockaway Beach Surf Shop
177 Beach 116th St.
Rockaway, (718) 474-9345
NYC Fly Fishing
207 Davis Ave.
Inwood, (718) 791-2094
nycflyfishing.com
New York Surf School
(718) 496-3371
surflessonsnewyork101.com
Horse Back Riding
Jamaica Bay Riding
Academy
7000 Shore Parkway
Brooklyn, (718) 531-8949
horsebackride.com
Golf
Brooklyn Golf Center
3200 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn, (718) 253-6816
Scuba Diving Tours
Jeanne II Scuba Tours
(718) 332-9574
jeanne-ii.com
The Schooba Academy
[email protected]
164 Norman Ave. Room 1B
Brooklyn, NY 11222
schooba.wordpress.com
By mid-century, Robert Moses established
the Bay as a major recreational destination and
residential area, building the Marine Parkway and
Cross Bay Bridges, the Belt Parkway, and destinations like Plumb Beach, Canarsie Pier, and Jacob
Riis Park. In 1972 many of Moses’s parks and the
former military bases became part of the National
Park Service’s Gateway National Recreation Area,
the first urban national park. The Jamaica Bay
Greenway is a great way to experience the Park
and the Bay’s unique ecology and history, the historical aircraft at Floyd Bennett Field to the worldreknowned birding at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife
Refuge.
Arts
Rockaway Artist Alliance
260 Beach 116th St.
Rockaway Beach,
(718) 474-0861
rockawayartistsalliance.org
Rockaway Theatre
Company
Post Theater building (T4)
Fort Tilden, (718) 850-2450
rockawaytheatrecompany.org
Riis Park Pitch and Putt
Golf
(718) 474-1623
8. Breezy Point
Flickr: peterjr1961
marsh, upland fields, woods, and fresh and brackish
water ponds, all while bird watching and hiking the
area’s many trails. Start at the Visitor Contact Station
for info on routes, activities, prime bird watching sites
and tours, history and more. For more info on bird
watching tours and Wildlife Refuge activities visit:
www.nps.gov/gate or call (718) 318-4340.
Directory
Recreation Centers
Aviator Sports and Events
Center
Floyd Bennett Field
Brooklyn, (718) 758-7500
aviatorsports.com
Marinas
Smitty’s Fishing Station
301 E. 9th Rd.
Brooklyn, (718) 945-2642
Sunset Marina (Kayak
Rentals)
64 W. 10th Road
Broad Channel, (718) 474-3256
http://sunsetmarinabc.com/
Sebago Canoe Club
1400 Paerdegat Ave. North
Brooklyn, (718) 241-3683
sebagocanoeclub.org
Community
Firehouse 59 / RWA
58-03 Rockaway Beach Blvd.
Rockaway, (718) 327-5919
rwalliance.org
Thanks to our sponsor
The Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition is a partnership of public and private organizations committed
to improving and expanding the Jamaica Bay Greenway to create a cohesive and user-friendly route.
The Coalition also promotes use of the greenway
by encouraging cycling among residents near
Jamaica Bay and bringing people from outside the
area to visit this unique resource. Regional Plan
Association staffs the Jamaica Bay Greenway Coalition. For more information contact Regional Plan
Association at [email protected].
Alexander Brash
Plumb Beach was originally Plumb Island until Robert
Moses used landfill to connect it to Brooklyn in 1940.
Today Plumb Beach is home to endangered shorebirds and horseshoe crabs, and is a prime location for
sunbathing, parasailing, windsurfing, or launching a
kayak trip.
Rockaway Beach encompasses 170 acres of sun and
sand. The beautiful boardwalk that runs from Beach
9th St. to Beach 126th Street. The beach contains the
city’s only surfing area and is the ideal location for
many summer
time activities,
including swimming, fishing,
sunbathing,
volleyball,
basketball, and
skating at one of
two Skate Parks.
There are also
many adjoining
areas that include
picnic areas and
playgrounds for a
younger audience.
Photo: Daniel Avila, NYC Parks
History