view of Lower Manhattan from the Rockaway Ferry

Essay of the Day

Essay of the Day features selected essays from my separate, non-public online journals.

This essay is from Journeys.

Rockaway Ferry

What are the Rockaways?

It had been a while since I took the ferry to the beach. I set out once again on a journey via the subway to Lower Manhattan where I could take a ferry at the foot of Wall Street on the East River to the Rockaways in Queens. I have been going to its beach, including the geographically contiguous Jacob Riis Park and Beach, since 1979. It is a summer ritual and holds many memories for me. It is, even more than Coney Island, where I go to stroll, think, listen to music and observe beachgoers under wide open sky, miles of sand and shore, and beautiful sunshine.

The Rockaways, depending on a person's intent, usually refers to the following:

Rockaway Peninsula: a relatively narrow strip of land between Jamaica Bay (see more below) and the Atlantic Ocean which is 11 miles in length, and 0.75 miles in width

Rockaway Beach and Boardwalk, the largest urban beach in the United States, comprised of a 5.5 mile boardwalk and a 7 mile beach

Most of the Rockaway Peninsula is located within the Gateway National Recreation Area, which covers a very large amount of water and specific adjacent land sites that stretch along the Atlantic coast from Queens to Staten Island to New Jersey. Gateway, which was added to the National Park System in 1972, is the fourth most visited national park, with ten million visitors annually. It offers ocean swimming, fishing, bird watching, boating, hiking and camping, historic forts, nature walks, bicycling and America’s oldest operating lighthouse. The park also hosts a wide range of concerts, sporting tournaments and other special events.

On the northern side of the Rockaway peninsula is the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge which is over 12,600 acres of water, saltmarshes, freshwater ponds, upland fields and woods, and open bay and islands. It is one of the largest bird habitats in the northeastern United States.

At the western end of the peninsula is Jacob Riis Park and beach and Breezy Point. Each is very large and, along with Rockaway Beach, part of a continuous oceanfront. I usually walk in the sand along the shore from Rockaway Beach to Riis Park, the section in which I spend the most time.

Brief History

In September 1609, Henry Hudson and his crew were the first Europeans to see the Rockaways and Jamaica Bay.

The Rockaways became a popular summer retreat in the 1830s. People arrived by horse-drawn carriages or on horseback.

The Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge were completed in 1937 and 1939 respectively. In the 1980s, many times I rode my bicycle along Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to the Marine Parkway Bridge or I drove my car over the Cross Bay Bridge. I could also take the No. 2 subway train and a bus to Riis Park, or take the A train from Manhattan, plus a shuttle train, to Beach 116th Street in the Rockaways.

From Wall Street to Queens

The ferry is the most scenic way to get to the Rockaways and it is the same price as the subway, currently $2.75. There are 162 seats on the lower deck and 182 seats on the upper deck of the 350 passenger vessel. The ferry ride covers 15.5 miles. It begins in Manhattan, has one stop in Brooklyn and reaches the dock in Queens in under an hour. But the time flies. You're moving on water with something to see every minute.

Immediately after leaving Wall Street, the ferry travels from the East River out to New York Harbor toward Brooklyn. It makes a very quick stop at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, then continues on to provide a wonderful view of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in America, measured by main span (surpassing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco). The ferry continues on past Coney Island in Brooklyn, then underneath the Marine Parkway Bridge into Jamaica Bay and ultimately to the Rockaways in Queens.

approaching the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge which stretches from Brooklyn to Staten Island over New York Harbor

under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

past the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge

Coney Island, Brooklyn

past the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge

which travels from Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn over Jamaica Bay to Riis Park and Beach, Queens

the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge

which travels from Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn over Jamaica Bay to Riis Park and Beach, Queens

in Jamaica Bay next to the Rockaways

Jacob Riis Park and Beach

Rockaway Beach

the shore at Riis Park and Beach

Jacob Riis Park was originally known as Seaside Park and later renamed Telawana Park after Culluloo Telewana, who was believed to be the last surviving member of the Rockaway Lenape tribe until his death in 1818. In 1914, the park was renamed for Jacob Riis, a famous New York City reform minded journalist and photographer, who documented the extreme poverty in parts of New York City. In 1917, with the emergence of World War I, the park site was leased to the United States Navy to create Naval Air Station Rockaway, one of the first naval air stations in the country. The base was vacated by June 1930.

Riis Park and Beach, specifically a portion known as Bay 1, has long been known as the most liberal beach in New York City. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was informally clothing optional. It is currently the New York beach where women (legally) sunbathe topless.

Rockaway Beach experiences significant surf, more than any other New York City beach. Thus it is the most popular beach for surfers and it contains the city's only legal surfing beach areas, located between Beach 67th and 69th Streets and between Beach 87th and 92nd Streets.