The sand here runs dark and coarse, flecked with mussel shells and smooth pebbles that clatter underfoot as you walk the narrow band between marsh and water. At low tide, the bay retreats to reveal tidal flats where herons stalk minnows, their reflections doubling in the shallow pools. The skyline you're used to associating with New York never appears—instead, you get the industrial silhouette of New Jersey's Raritan shoreline across the water, container cranes and all.
“You can stand on New York City sand and feel genuinely alone, watching sunset over marshland the city accidentally rewilded.”
Credit: FlickrSW Sturgis MI RESORT ERA Shoreline View THE OAKWOOD on Klinger Lake with Henham Beach beyond Resorts & Cottages when Vacationers arrived in SW Michigan on Steamer Ferrys & via the RAILROAD2
This beach survived Hurricane Sandy, though the surrounding neighborhood didn't. The city bought out most homes here, creating an accidental buffer zone that returned the land to something wilder. Now you walk through grassy lots where driveways still trace rectangles in the earth, leading to beaches that feel quieter than they have in decades. Local anglers cast for striped bass from the rock groins, and the occasional kayaker paddles past, heading toward the mouth of Great Kills Harbor.
Come for the sunset, when the western sky ignites and the water turns to hammered copper. The view stretches uninterrupted across Raritan Bay, and if you time it right in autumn, you'll watch the sun drop into the Atlantic while monarchs flutter south through the goldenrod along the shore path.
