Great Kills: 580 acres of Staten Island shoreline, run by the Park Service
A South Shore neighborhood built around a 580-acre national-park beach — salt marsh, woodland, and a rush-hour express to the ferry.
Great Kills is a South Shore neighborhood organized around its park, and the park is the reason to make the trip. Great Kills Park is 580 acres of beach, salt marsh and woodland that the National Park Service has run as part of Gateway National Recreation Area since 1973 — which is why it feels less like a manicured city park and more like actual coast.
Getting there is the Staten Island Railway, and the Great Kills station runs express to St. George at rush hour, where the ferry to Manhattan waits. It's a long way to go for a beach if your days are numbered — but if you want the version of New York that's salt air and no skyline, this is where it is.
How this was made. This post was drafted with AI (openai-compat:command-r:latest) and reviewed by a person before publishing — see how we handle AI-assisted writing. It was written only from the facts below; nothing was invented beyond them. Grounded on: Neighborhood — Great Kills; Borough — Staten Island; Subway lines — Staten Island Railway; Known for — Great Kills is a South Shore neighborhood built around Great Kills Park, 580 acres of beach, salt marsh, and woodland run by the National Park Service as part of Gateway National Recreation Area since 1973. The Staten Island Railway's Great Kills station runs express to St. George at rush hour..