Cedar Beach (Brookhaven, New York)

Cedar Beach
Sunbathers on the main section of Cedar Beach
Location	Mount Sinai, New York
Coordinates	40°57′53″N 73°01′47″W / 40.9646°N 73.0298°W / 40.9646; -73.0298Coordinates: 40°57′53″N 73°01′47″W / 40.9646°N 73.0298°W / 40.9646; -73.0298
Operated by	Brookhaven, New York

Cedar Beach is a public beach on the North Shore of Long Island, located within the Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York. The beach itself spans 3,450 feet on a peninsula that divides Mount Sinai Harbor from the Long Island Sound. Cedar Beach is located in the hamlet of Mount Sinai, while the peninsula on which it sits is accessed most directly from the adjacent hamlet of Miller Place.

Cedar Beach is located on a peninsula that stretches for over a mile westward, with the Long Island Sound to its north and Mount Sinai Harbor to its south. The peninsula contains two popular sections of recreational beach, Cedar Beach Main and Cedar Beach West, united along a continuous beachfront and adjacent nature preserve.

Cedar Beach Main is typically the most lively section of Cedar Beach and is located near its eastern entrance and the main parking areas. It includes a restaurant, bar, snack stand, restrooms, lifeguard stations, and volleyball courts. Live music performances take place in near the restaurant during the summer months.

Cedar Beach West is located at the peninsula's western end, overlooking the Mount Misery Point section of Port Jefferson. This sections contains a popular fishing pier. Nearer to Cedar Beach's western end is a boat launch ramp and marina, with the Mount Sinai Yacht Club located on the peninsula.

Connecting these sections behind the continuous beachfront is a nature preserve, which includes a paved walkway and a wooden pavilion overlooking the beach. Within the preserve is the Cedar Beach Nature Center, an educational center focused on the local marine biome with hands-on exhibits and local wildlife.

Prior in the mid-19th century, the mouth of Mount Sinai Harbor was on at its eastern side, with the peninsula on which Cedar Beach now sits being accessible from Port Jefferson. When tides and winds closed the harbor's opening, a new mouth was opened on its east side, switching the peninsula's connection from Port Jefferson to Miller Place. Dredging projects were active in Mount Sinai Harbor until the 1960s.