Rocky Neck State Park

About Rocky Neck State Park

Softly sloping beaches, scenic views of the Rocky Mountains and a wide variety of wildlife make the park ideal for families.

Look out for hawks, cranes and herons, and Rocky Neck has something for every family member.

Rocky Neck State Park offers interesting geological features that are perfect for exploring the best geology in the park. With a wide variety of wildlife and beautiful views of the Rocky Mountains, it is an ideal place for families to explore the area.

You can also pick glacier stones and glacier stones from the trails in the park and view glaciers from a distance of over a mile.

The topography of the Connecticut coast is flatter than the topology inland because the rocks have not been exposed to the effects of erosion for so long. The seabed of the New England rocks is protected from erosion by layers of loose sediment. These sediments eventually wash away, but they once covered the entire Connecticut coast, including Rocky Neck State Park. In addition, these rocks were uncovered for thousands of years during the last ice age in the late 19th century.

The point at which the climate became too warm to push the glaciers forward was during the most recent glacial advance in New England, which occurred about 24,000 years ago. As the ice tried to flow south, the warmer climate caused the glacier to melt. In addition, this glaciation had a major impact on the shape of the Rocky Neck State Park as it looks today. The glacier melted again and then floated away from the coast, melting and drifting thousands of years in the ocean before melting again.

The glacier contained large piles of rock, sand and clay dumped by melting ice. These large stacks of rock, sand and clay, known as terminal moraines, were piled up during the last glacier advance and mark the maximum progress of the glaciation towards the northeast.

The geology of Rocky Neck State Park is evident in the large stone pavilions on the beach. As a result of the terminal moraines, the islands were created, and Long Island and Fishers Island are considered protected by the entire Connecticut coast and are part of the New York State Park System.

Directly above the pavilions, the great foothills of granite gneis protrude, and the large boulders in front of them form the foot of the beach.

Gneiss (pronounced "beautiful") is a highly metamorphic rock that has been subjected to intense heat and pressure during the formation process. It is easily distinguished by the separation of light and dark minerals, giving it a banded texture. GneISS is usually composed of two types of minerals: granite (as opposed to platy) and quartz (a type of quartzite).

The grey, coarse-grained gneiss is irregularly structured, with pink granite spots and stripes. There are also orange and pink micro clinkspar, which make up the lentils, and a large number of granite and gneiss have been discovered in Rocky Neck State Park.

Other minerals found in Potter Hill granite and gneiss are quartz, garnet, tourmaline and biotite.

Collecting these rocks and minerals is prohibited in State Park, but Rocky Neck is a popular vacation spot, in part because of its proximity to New York City.

The varied terrain of Rocky Neck has something for everyone, and picnickers will find the large stone pavilions useful and unique. The park has been in public ownership for more than 100 years, from the farsighted conservationist who secured the land in 1931 with his personal funds approved by state legislators, to the current owner of the park, the New York State Park Board of Trustees, who made it a state park in the first place.

In the 1930s, an aid organization made wooden columns from the state forest and built the curved masonry from local materials. Family tents are popular on 160 wooded and open campsites, which lead to the brine pools on foot. Various hiking trails in the park offer scenic views of the Hudson River and its tributaries, as well as the New York State Park System. Bounded by the Delaware River, the Adirondack Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, Rocky Neck was known to Native Americans and colonists as a place rich in fish and animals.

Today, high tides allow flocks of herring to swim from the inland spawning waters of Bride Brook to the spawning waters of the Hudson River and the Atlantic.

Seasonal changes offer opportunities to fish for mackerel, striped bass, blackbirds and flounder.

Ospreys, fish and falcons are common in early summer, but in autumn cranes, herons and mute swans wade through the cattails and ascending mallow.

Follow the South exit on Route 156 and turn left at the intersection with Route 155 into Parkstrasse (the address for Parkstrasse is "Route 156").