Long Island Beaches

Long Island’s history is uniquely intertwined with its beaches.  In his poem “Starting from Paumanok,” Walt Whitman described Long Island as “isle of the salty shore and breeze and brine.” For millennia, wind, water, and sediments have converged to create the island’s beach systems.  The coastline is renowned for its sandy Atlantic Ocean surf beaches, calm bay-front beaches, and rugged north shore Long Island Sound beaches.  Kristen Nyitray, author, director of Special Collections and University Archives, and university archivist at Stony Brook University will discuss the research presented in her book and share a curated selection of vintage postcards, photographs, and maps that illustrates the diversity of Nassau and Suffolk Counties’ beautiful shores.