Broad Channel American Park

Broad Channel American Park serves the tiny island community of Broad Channel, the only inhabited island in Jamaica Bay and one of the most unusual neighborhoods in New York City.

Broad Channel is a community of approximately 2,500 people living on a narrow island in the middle of Jamaica Bay, connected to the Rockaway Peninsula and Howard Beach by the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge.

The community began as a fishing village and summer bungalow colony in the early 20th century. Many residents' families have lived on the island for generations, creating a tight-knit community with a small-town character unlike any other neighborhood in the five boroughs.

Broad Channel is surrounded by the waters and marshes of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, giving residents a daily relationship with one of the most important coastal ecosystems on the Atlantic seaboard. Kayaking, fishing, and birdwatching are part of everyday life.

Broad Channel American Park serves one of the most remarkable communities in New York City: an island village in the middle of a wildlife refuge, where residents live closer to nature than almost anyone else in the five boroughs.