The park is accessible from Long Island by the Robert Moses Causeway across Great South Bay.

[4] Its current name was given to honor Robert Moses, the influential mid-20th century urban planner and former president of the Long Island State Park Commission.

[6][7] Robert Moses State Park includes five miles (8.0 km) of beach, which visitors can use for swimming, surfing, or fishing.

The park is open year-round from sunrise to sunset, although hours for activities such as swimming and golfing vary by season.

In 1825 the federal government acquired the westerly tip to build a lighthouse and David Sammis bought about 120 acres (0.49 km2) to the east in 1855 and built the Surf Hotel.

[18][19][citation needed] In 1892, fears of a cholera epidemic spread by passengers on ships arriving in New York prompted the state to acquire the hotel property to establish a quarantine station.

[20][21] Irate local citizens obtained an injunction blocking the quarantine station and occupied the site despite the arrival of troops.

The commission obtained from the federal government four miles (6.4 km) of beach west of the lighthouse that had been formed by shifting sand.

[citation needed] After the hurricane of 1938 devastated the park, the commission decided to rebuild farther east near the lighthouse, and sand was pumped onto the beach to raise a portion of the island to a height of 18 feet (5.5 m) above sea level.

The renovations were part of $132 million in improvements for New York's state parks and historic sites enacted in 2008.

[28] A $1.7 million project to increase energy efficiency and install a 500-kilowatt solar photovoltaic power system at the park was announced in 2015.