Overview & visitor information
Pelham Bay Park covers 2,772 acres in the northeastern Bronx, more than three times the size of Central Park. Its thirteen-mile Long Island Sound shoreline surrounds salt marshes, rocky outcrops, islands and tidal inlets, while inland woods and meadows support extensive walking, riding and nature trails.
The landscape contains deep human history, including Indigenous Siwanoy sites, ground associated with the Revolutionary War Battle of Pell's Point and the 1842 Bartow-Pell Mansion. The city assembled the park in 1888 from former estates, leaving stone walls, roads and planted species within its broader natural areas.
Orchard Beach is the park's largest constructed feature. Robert Moses joined Hunter Island to the mainland with landfill and sand in the 1930s, creating a crescent beach, promenade, mall and monumental bathhouse facing the Sound. Golf courses, playing fields and marinas add metropolitan recreation to the protected coastal systems.
