Bayswater Point State Park
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Bayswater Point State Park is a state park located on Jamaica Bay in
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
, New York. The park is located at the western end of Mott Avenue in Bayswater near
Far Rockaway Far Rockaway is a neighborhood on the eastern part of the Rockaway peninsula in the New York City borough of Queens. It is the easternmost section of the Rockaways. The neighborhood extends from Beach 32nd Street east to the Nassau County line ...
and is built on land that once housed the mansion and estate of banker Louis A. Heinsheimer.


History

The land that is now occupied by Bayswater Point State Park was once home to "Breezy Point", an expansive mansion built in 1907 by New York City banker Louis A. Heinsheimer. In 1925, the mansion was converted into a home for disabled children, and it was later used as a home for children with intellectual disabilities before being put on the market in the late 1980s. A parcel that was to become Bayswater Point State Park was purchased by the Trust for Public Land in 1986. The mansion, which by that point had been damaged by fire, was demolished in 1987 prior to the land being given to New York State in 1988; only the conservatory was left standing. New York State designated the land as a state park in 1991, and gave New York City Audubon administrative duties over the park. Between 1994 and 1996, the Audubon Society conducted a research and restoration project at Bayswater Point, seeking to engage the public with the land's conservation. In early May 2010, the park was briefly closed to the public as a result of budget cuts, along with 57 additional state parks and historic sites. However, by month's end an agreement had been reached to re-open many of the parks, including Bayswater Point. In 2015, an $80,000 improvement project to stabilize Sunset Lodge at the park was announced.


Usage

Bayswater Point State Park was established in order to preserve important habitat for migratory birds in Jamaica Bay. The park also protects habitat for butterflies such as the Delaware skipper, and its beach is used by
horseshoe crab Horseshoe crabs are marine and brackish water arthropods of the family Limulidae and the only living members of the order Xiphosura. Despite their name, they are not true crabs or crustaceans: they are chelicerates, most closely related to ar ...
s during their annual mating season. As such, the park is largely undeveloped, and primarily offers space for passive recreation such as hiking, birdwatching, and fishing.


See also

* List of New York state parks


References


External links


New York State Parks: Bayswater Point State Park

Bayswater Point, Queens ''Hidden Waters Blog''
{{authority control State parks of New York (state) Parks in Queens, New York Rockaway, Queens Protected areas established in 1991 1991 establishments in New York City