Kings Point, NY

A working maritime campus occupies part of Kings Point's Long Island Sound shoreline. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy covers 82 acres here, with more than 100 vessels and small craft, a boat basin, the Yocum Waterfront Center, engineering laboratories, and a ship's bridge simulator. Wiley Hall, the former home of automobile manufacturer Walter P. Chrysler, serves as the academy's administrative center, while the American Merchant Marine Museum stands on the northern part of the campus. That federal presence puts midshipmen, training vessels, and regimental activity into the landscape of an otherwise residential North Shore village. Kings Point incorporated in November 1924 at the tip of the Great Neck Peninsula. Public recreation takes two notably different forms within the village.

The Great Neck Park District's 175-acre Kings Point Park has more than five miles of hiking trails, a separate cross-country ski trail, 26 picnic areas, ballfields, tennis and basketball courts, a playground, and a sledding hill. On the Sound, Steppingstone Park's marina has offered moorings since 1942 and also maintains a launch ramp, fishing dock, beach-boat permits, rowboats, seasonal launch service, and sailing instruction. Great Neck Library adds an indoor counterpart at its main building on Bayview Avenue. Its appointment-based STEM Lab supports projects with 3D printers, a laser cutter, sewing and embroidery equipment, robotics kits, drawing tablets, and virtual-reality headsets.