Atlantic Beach and Long Beach Aeriel View

Long Beach is one of the outer barrier islands off the south coast of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. Long Beach is the westernmost of these barrier islands, fronting on

Reynolds Channel Reynolds Channel is a strait in Nassau County, New York that separates Long Beach Barrier Island, which contains the City of Long Beach and the villages of Atlantic Beach, Lido Beach, and Point Lookout, from Long Island, Barnum Island, Harb ...

to the north and the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to the south.

History

The first inhabitants on the Long Beach Barrier Island were the

Rockaway Indians The Lenape (, , ; ), also called the Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. The Lenape's historical territory included present-day northeastern Del ...

; the island was sold to the

New Netherland New Netherland () was a colony of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states ...

colonists in 1643. Local Long Island baymen and farmers used the island for fishing and harvesting salt hay; no people lived on the island year round for more than two centuries. The

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

established a lifesaving station in 1849, a dozen years after 62 people died when the barque ''Mexico'' carrying Irish immigrants to New York ran ashore on New Year's Day. Development began on the island as a resort and was organized by

Austin Corbin Austin Corbin (July 11, 1827 – June 4, 1896) was a 19th-century American banking and railroad entrepreneur. He consolidated the rail lines on Long Island, bringing them under the profitable umbrella of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). He was ...

, a builder from

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

. Austin Corbin formed a partnership with the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

to finance the New York and Long Beach Railroad Company which laid tracks from Lynbrook to Long Beach in 1880. The company also opened the Long Beach Hotel, at the time the largest in the world. The railroad brought 300,000 visitors the first season. By the next spring, tracks had been laid almost the full length of the Long Beach Island, but after repeated winter storm washouts they were removed in 1894.

Communities

Cities

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

Villages

Atlantic Beach Atlantic Beach is the name of some places in the United States: *Atlantic Beach, Florida, a city *Atlantic Beach, New York, a village *Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, a town *Atlantic Beach, South Carolina, a town See also * Atlantic (disambiguat ...

Hamlets

* East Atlantic Beach * Lido Beach * Point Lookout

Transportation

Road

The Long Beach Bridge connects to Island Park, the

Atlantic Beach Bridge The Atlantic Beach Bridge is a long toll drawbridge across the west end of the Reynonds Channel, connecting NY 878 in Lawrence with Park Street in Atlantic Beach, in Nassau County, New York, United States. The bridge also provides direct ...

connects to Lawrence on the mainland of Long Island, and the Loop Parkway bridge connects Lido Beach to the

Meadowbrook State Parkway The Meadowbrook State Parkway (also known as the Meadowbrook, the Meadowbrook Parkway, Meadowbrook Causeway, or the MSP) is a controlled-access highway, controlled-access Parkways in New York, parkway in Nassau County, New York, in the United S ...

Rail

The

's Long Beach Branch terminates at the Long Beach station on the island.

Bus

Bus services are provided by Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) and Long Beach Bus.

References

{{Long Beach, New York Islands of Nassau County, New York Landforms of Nassau County, New York