Natural beauty was the feature that first attracted 19th-century park reformers to the area now known as Pelham Bay Park. They realized that the land needed little alteration in order to play a vital role in their proposed system of Bronx parks. With flowering grassy meadows, saltwater marshes, rocky shores, and dense woodlands, this acreage was stunning in and of itself. In addition, the Park has New York City’s most ecologically diverse habitats and has been called “unique on this continent” by the Audubon Society. The Park offers urban visitors a rich source of discovery about native ecology and the opportunity for respite and relaxation
Boulder Sites
Pelham Bay Park has fascinating geology with many surprising features facing Long Island Sound. The Park is home to stunning “glacial erratics,” large boulders deposited some 20,000 years ago by the flow of the Wisconsin Glacier. The massive ice sheet also carved and scoured the underlying rock substrate or bedrock. The park’s bedrock is a complex mix of rocks comprised of both Fordham gneiss and Hartland schist. The rocky coastline around Hunter Island and Twin Island is the southernmost tip of the Hartland Formation, the bedrock that runs along the New England coastline as far north as Maine.
Forests and Woodlands
Most of the 2,772 acres of Pelham Bay Park are natural areas, covered by leafy canopies.
Water and Wetlands
When you think of water in Pelham Bay Park, you might think of the 1.1 miles of beach at Orchard Beach. There’s so much more! From vernal ponds to salt marshes, water shapes Pelham Bay Park.
Trails
There are three major trails in the Park, as well as numerous other foot paths. Hunter Island is the location of the Kazimiroff Nature Trail, a popular hiking destination that traverses a variety of rich habitats. The trail begins off the Orchard Beach boardwalk near section 2. It was named in 1987 after Dr. Theodore Kazimiroff. A dentist by trade, Kazimiroff was also a dedicated naturalist and local historian who was among the leaders in the effort to stop garbage dumping in the Park in the 1960s.
The Siwanoy Trail runs for nearly 3.5 miles and is named for the Native Americans who once lived on this land. The trail begins at the intersection of Shore Road and City Island Road, winds through the Central Woodlands, with offshoots around the Bartow-Pell Mansion and past the Orchard Beach Meadow. It is maintained by the Appalachian Mountain Club in partnership with NYC Parks.
The Split Rock Trail is the shortest and most direct of the named Park trails. It begins near the Bartow Circle and meanders alongside Goose Creek Marsh and its associated woodlands to the northwestern corner of the park, where the great Split Rock sits in a small area at the intersection of the Hutchinson River Parkway and the New England Thruway.
Image: Kazimiroff Nature Trail on Hunter Island taken by Alexander Belisle
Islands
The most well-known islands of the Park are Hunter Island, which was joined to The Bronx mainland in the 1930s when Orchard Beach was constructed, and Twin Island, added when the beach was expanded in the 1940s. Hiking trails, boulder sites, and an abundance of plants and wildlife make these islands popular destinations. In addition, Pelham Bay Park contains many smaller islands such as Hog Island, Cat Briar Island, Two Trees Island, and the Chimney Sweeps in Long Island Sound, and Goose Island on the park’s west side in the Hutchinson River. These islands are important, protected places for waterbirds to breed and nest.
The designated Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary includes all of Twin Island, Cat Briar Island, Two Trees Island, and the northern and eastern shoreline of Hunter Island. Sanctuary designation means that plant and wildlife here will be preserved for both study and recreation.
Image: Two Trees Island, Off the Coast of Twin Island taken by John Grayley, NYC Parks & Recreation
Meadows and Grasslands
Southwest of Orchard Beach is a 25-acre area known as “The Meadow.” This area was created during the construction of Orchard Beach when soil was scraped from its surface to be used as fill, leaving a shallow ground layer in close proximity to the water table. This process ended up providing an excellent habitat that supports seasonal grasses and wildflowers, butterflies and birds. One can find Switchgrass, Goldenrod, Little Bluestem, Bayberry, and Gamma Grass which is listed as a rare plant by New York State and is the only host plant enjoyed by a rare moth, Amphipoea erepta ryensis. The moth’s only known habitat is Pelham Bay Park.
A place of great natural beauty, The Meadow has been a site of active restoration by Park staff and volunteers. Without such maintenance, meadows and grasslands could become overgrown and slowly transform into woodland or monocultures of vines or non-native plants like Phragmites or mugwort. This succession occurred in an area in the southern part of the Park known as South Meadow, which is now partly forested.
Wildlife
Pelham Bay Park contains some of New York City’s most ecologically diverse public parkland, with habitats that include rocky seashore, salt marsh, meadows, and mature natural forest. These play host to a year-round assortment of wildlife that ranges from the White-footed Mouse to the Red-tailed Hawk. The Park is designated as a New York State Significant Coastal Fish and Wildlife Habitat for the array of bird and fish species found here, and because of its location along the Atlantic Flyway, a major migratory route, the park is designated an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society.
More than 400 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and insects populate the Park. Crabs can be seen swarming on Orchard Beach in the May-June mating season. Egrets and herons frequent the quiet pools of Turtle Cove and the marshes of the Thomas Pell Refuge. In winter, owls are often spotted on Hunter Island, while Harbor Seals can also be seen in the waters at that time. Mammals are common to all of the park and include raccoons, skunks, cottontails, coyotes, and deer.
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Sanctuary
Designated by New York City law in 1967, the Thomas Pell Wildlife Sanctuary and the Hunter Island Marine Zoology and Geology Sanctuary protect 489 acres of marshes and forests within Pelham Bay Park. In 1963, when the City began landfill operations on Tallapoosa Point, plans were drawn up to expand landfill operations west of the Pelham Bridge and north along the Hutchinson River marshes. These actions would have created the City’s second-largest refuse disposal site, larger than Fresh Kills in Staten Island. Widespread community opposition resulted in the creation of the sanctuaries.
At 375 acres, the Thomas Pell Wildlife Sanctuary is the larger of these two designated areas. The Sanctuary forms the western edge of the Park, encompassing the salt marshes bordering the Hutchinson River, as well as the oak-hickory forests around the Split Rock Golf Course, the wetlands surrounding Goose Creek, and Goose Island to the south in the Hutchinson River. The Split Rock Trail leads through this rich environment of woods and marsh, home to a wide variety of trees, birds, and mammals, including raccoons, ducks, egrets, hawks, and coyotes.
If you’d like to know more, NYC Parks created this brochure in 1987 for the 20th anniversary of the sanctuaries’ creation: Creating the Sanctuaries (PDF).