Sandy Island Beach State Park

The Unique Area incorporated several additional acres of land near the park as well as most of the southern end of North Sandy Pond.

[4][12] Oswego County operated the beach resort for several years and built a new bathhouse, picnic pavilions, and a boardwalk.

[13] North and south of Sandy Island Beach, the shoreline has high dunes that are up to 50 feet (15 m) higher than the level of Lake Ontario.

Jack Major wrote that "For many years the most popular spot on the beach was an open-faced sandhill that overlooked North Pond.

[19] Stable coastal dunes and sandhills are structures created by dune-building plants such as beachgrass and cottonwood trees.

At that time the area around Sandy Island Beach was privately owned, but wasn't staffed, occupied, or maintained.

[10] In 1982, Dyke Riggs described the situation, "Bonfires fueled by trees on the beach and dune buggies, trucks and three-wheeled motorcycles careening around destroyed growth that holds the sand.

"[18] Since 2000, the dune overlooking Sandy Island Beach was partially rebuilt and replanted with beachgrass by New York State.

Topographic map.
Topographic map illustrating the boundaries of Sandy Island Beach State Park (SP) and Sandy Island Beach Unique Area, which are on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario in New York State (NYS). The gray shaded areas within the Unique Area boundaries are privately owned.
Photograph showing a sandy beach with sunbathers and Lake Ontario in the distance.
Photograph of the main beach in July. American beachgrass is growing in the foreground; the walkway protects this beachgrass from beachgoers. The trees to the left are Eastern cottonwoods , which are the main dune-forming tree in this region.