place

Southaven County Park

Brookhaven, New YorkLong Island geography stubsParks in Suffolk County, New York
Southaven County Park Entrance 3
Southaven County Park Entrance 3

Southaven County Park is located in South Haven and Yaphank, New York in central Long Island. It is located between Sunrise Highway (Route 27) just west of William Floyd Parkway, off of Victory Avenue (Suffolk CR 56/North Sunrise Service Road), and crossed by the Carmans River. In the 1960s, it became one of Suffolk County’s first parks opened to the public. The territory of the parkland reaches as far north as East Main Street and Yaphank Avenue in Yaphank, which contains the historic Homan-Gerard House and Mills as well as the Mary Louise Booth Girlhood Home. Segments of the Long Island Expressway and the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road runs through the park, though it is accessible from neither the LIE nor the railroad. The park has become famous for being the crash site of an alleged UFO in 1992.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Southaven County Park (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.819166666667 ° E -72.898333333333 °
placeShow on map

Address

Yaphank


11980
New York, United States
mapOpen on Google Maps

Southaven County Park Entrance 3
Southaven County Park Entrance 3
Share experience

Nearby Places

Carmans River
Carmans River

The Carmans River is a 10-mile (16 km) long river in Brookhaven, New York in Suffolk County on Long Island. It is one of the four largest rivers on Long Island and is similar to other Long Island rivers in that is totally groundwater generated (e.g., no lakes), although a lake did exist long ago. Almost all of the river is specifically protected by the Central Long Island Pine Barrens. All of it is designated by New York State as either a "Scenic River" or a "Recreational River." The river, which was earlier once called the Connecticut River (in connection with early settlers from Connecticut, and also due to the mistaken belief that it is fed underground by that river) is named for Samuel Carman who married into milling families on the river in the 19th century, used it to run a mill, and operated a hunting club for residents from New York City.It is fresh water for the first eight miles (13 km) and then becomes an estuary for the last two, as it encounters the tidal effects of Great South Bay. There are four dams on the upper river at Upper Mill Pond, Lower Mill Pond, Southaven County Park, and the Sunrise Highway. Adjoining the river is the Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge. The river formed the western boundary of the massive Manor St. George under William "Tangier" Smith who in the 17th century owned most of modern-day Brookhaven south of the Sunrise Highway. A manor subsequently built by the Smith family is located in Shirley at the mouth. In 1967 Art Cooley, a teacher at Bellport High School, noting a decline in the osprey population on the river was one of the founders of the Environmental Defense Fund which was to lead the fight to ban DDT. Southaven County Park encompasses upstream parts of the river and special regulations trout fishing can be accessed through them. In recent years, wild turkeys have been re-introduced into this park, and have re-populated many of the surrounding areas.

Suffolk Meadows
Suffolk Meadows

Suffolk Meadows was a quarter horse racing facility on Long Island that operated during 1977 and 1986. The racetrack was situated on a 65-acre (0.26 km2) parcel located in Yaphank northwest of the William Floyd Parkway interchange on the Long Island Expressway. The racetrack first opened in 1977 as Parr Meadows and closed following a 113-day meet after the bank defaulted on loans. Although the track was not built by developer Ron Parr, the Parr Organization assumed ownership after the original builder ran out of funds. In May 1986, horse racing briefly returned to Suffolk Meadows for an 86-day stint. The racetrack ceased operations on October 18, 1986.On September 7, 1979, 18,000 attendees gathered at Parr Meadows for a ten-hour concert featuring a number of the original performers from the Woodstock Festival. Musical artists attending the tenth year reunion concert included Blondie Chaplin, Canned Heat, Country Joe McDonald, John Sebastian, Leslie West, Jorma Kaukonen, Johnny Winter, Paul Butterfield, Rick Danko and Stephen Stills. Many of the concertgoers arrived the day before, parking along William Floyd Parkway and camping out in the woods.Suffolk Meadows has also been the site of competitions for the International Professional Rodeo Association and the Suffolk County Fair. The former racetrack site has also been discussed as a potential location of a casino for the Shinnecock Indian Nation. In 1997, developer Wilbur Breslin planned to develop the adjacent property into a regional shopping mall called Brookhaven Town Center.A Super Walmart is currently under construction on the site; it is expected to open by November 2021.