Satellite View of Bottle Beach trails (click to enlarge)
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Length: 1.6-mile loop from the parking lot
Time: 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy, completely flat
On the other side of Flatbush Avenue from the entrance into Floyd Bennett Field at Gateway National Recreation Area are three trails that lead out to Bottle Beach, aka Glass Beach. I’m not sure if that’s an official name, but that’s what I heard it called. To some, it’s nothing more than an ecological disaster, but to those who like history and treasure hunting, it’s the coolest place you will ever find in a National Park.
Park in the first parking lot on the right once you turn into Floyd Bennett Field and then walk back out to Flatbush Avenue. Cross the street at the crosswalk and look for the obvious hiking trail.
Start of the hike to Bottle Beach near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
In about a tenth of a mile is an intersection where the trail splits off in three directions. Any of these trails will get you to the triangular-shaped beach along what is known as Dead Horse Bay (to picture the layout, take your middle three fingers and spread them out). The trail on the left is Millstone, and it leads to the left side of the beach near the bridge to the Rockaway peninsula. The middle trail is Express Return, and it heads out to the point. The trail on the right is Saltmarsh, and it leads to the right side of the beach near Gateway Marina.
Intersection with the Millstone, Express Return, and Saltmarsh trails near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
There are no signs indicating the names of the trails, but that’s not important as long as you have a map or know the layout ahead of time. My plan was to hike out on the Millstone Trail until I got to the beach, then turn right and hike along the bay all the way to the other side of the triangle, taking the Saltmarsh Trail back to the starting point. The hike did not entail a walk on Express Return, but the terrain is all the same, so I’m sure I didn’t miss much. My only concern was spotting the Saltmarsh trailhead and not ending up at Gateway Marina.
To follow my plan, take the leftmost trail when you come to the intersection. Other than seeing a rabbit, Millstone Trail is completely uninteresting, and a hike along it is not worth going into detail. After all, anyone hiking these trails is doing so just to get to the beach and sit in the beautiful sand and perhaps wade out into the inviting waters of Dead Horse Bay. From the intersection, it is just a quarter mile to the beach; from the parking lot, about a half mile.
Rabbit on the Millstone Trail near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
When I reached the beach I can’t say that I was surprised to see trash, because every beach in the New York units of Gateway National Recreation Area is covered with it except for the official swimming beaches at Great Kills Park and Jacob Riis Park, and that’s only because tractors rake the sand each morning and suck out the garbage. But in this case, my jaw dropped in disbelief. There was glass everywhere. And hundreds of leather shoe bottoms—not shoes—soles of shoes, like there was a shoe factory nearby that was dumping old soles into the bay. I can understand plastic, but of all the odd things to end up on a beach, shoe bottoms and glass. What kind of combination is that? And this is for as far as I could see.
Bottles on Bottle Beach at Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
Shoe soles and glass at Bottle Beach near Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, Gateway National Recreation Area
Hundreds of intact jars remain on Bottle Beach at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn
A lot of the bottles were broken, but there were hundreds of unbroken jars that looked like they all came from one place. I couldn’t understand how somebody could come out here and dump all of this stuff and not get caught. I can’t even begin to describe it other than to say that it was a pure ecological disaster. There were even three boats dumped on the beach.
Shoe sole at Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
Shoes bottoms at Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
Derelict boats on Bottle Beach near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
Other random garbage on Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
The Express Return Trail is about .2 mile from the Millstone Trail, so be sure to skip past it. Don’t be turned off by the garbage and make a beeline back to the starting point. Continue on, because things just get better.
As I made my way around the point I saw a father, mother, and teenage daughter hunting around in the trash with a bag full of bottles. I asked, “Are you guys bottle hunters,” and the mom replied, “No, we’re just regular people.” I later realized that they were taking items from a National Park, which is illegal, and they might have thought I was an undercover park Ranger. After making small talk, the girl admitted that they were bottle collecting. And then they told me what Bottle Beach was all about. From that point on it became the most fascinating place I have ever been to in a National Park.
The information they gave me wasn’t accurate, but it was in the ballpark. They told me that back in the 1920s and 30s, New York City used to bring garbage barges out here and dumped everything into Dead Horse Bay, so this glass was nearly 100 years old. The family had even found bottles from the 1800s. Every time a storm hits, more bottles wash up on the beach. You never know what you are going to find. From that point on, I couldn’t go two feet without looking for bottles, porcelain dishes, and other antique garbage. I even found an antique iron and some old car parts…and another boat. There were Pepsi bottles, old Clorox glass jugs, liquor bottles, beer bottles. It was like treasure hunting, and I don’t know a thing about glass. I walked beyond the Saltmarsh Trail just to keep looking.
Old Pepsi bottle at Bottle Beach near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
White Rock bottle on Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
Bottle with a federal warning about reusing the bottle found on Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
Piece of porcelain on Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
Antique machine of some sort on Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
Later on I talked to a park Ranger and got the true story. As it turns out, the entire area that I had been hiking on is a landfill that was used from 1948 through 1955. When full, the site was capped off with a couple feet of sand. If you dig down anywhere on the property, you will soon hit garbage. Thus, nobody dumped stuff in the bay. Every time a storm comes up it exposes more garbage; in fact, Floyd Bennett Field is shrinking. The shoe bottoms are there because everyone wore leather shoes back then and leather doesn’t rot that quickly. There were no plastic bottles—everything was in glass bottles. The jars mainly came from a nearby glue company. Dead Horse Bay got its name from the horse-rendering plants on Barren Island. At the time, glue was a product made from collagen extracted from horse bones, hides, and other tissues. Now cow and pig remains obtained from slaughter houses are the main sources for natural glue (there is synthetic glue as well) since horses aren’t around in abundance like they were before the automobile. The last rendering plant closed in 1921.
As for the people collecting the bottles, though it is illegal, the Ranger said that the National Park Service couldn’t care less, and even if it did, the Rangers don’t have enough spare time to waste on trying to catch people. In his opinion, it would be great if the entire place got picked clean. The site has no archaeological value because it is garbage from Queens and Brooklyn, with all the years mixed together.
The story behind the junk boats is interesting as well. Supposedly there were a number of old boats that had washed up over the years, and the National Park Service had some extra money to haul them off. Word got out, and the night before the program was to start, everyone who wanted to get rid of an old boat free of charge beached it in the middle of the night. There were so many abandoned boats that the program had to be cancelled. The boats that remain will probably rot there, for there is no salvage value and the National Park Service has no money to remove them.
Abandoned boat on Bottle Beach near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
Another boat on Bottle Beach near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
Once you get around the point, there are a number of places that look like they might be the Saltmarsh Trail, but keep walking until you first catch a glimpse of Gateway Marina—at that point start looking for the trailhead. If you have a GPS, it is about 1.1 miles from the parking lot.
Trailhead for the Saltmarsh Trail on Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
The hike back is about as interesting as the hike to the beach. The trail starts off on rather sandy terrain but soon turns into a nice, grassy trail. It’s a quarter mile back to the intersection, and then another quarter mile to the parking lot.
Saltmarsh Trail near Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area
It took me an hour and a half to hike 1.6 miles, but most of that time was spent looking for bottles. What started out as a disgrace turned into a place where I could have spent all day. Bottle Beach is no secret, however, as glass hunters, artists, and the curious come here every day to look for unique items. You would think all the good stuff was picked clean long ago, but every tide and every storm exposes new finds. I read about people finding beautiful perfume bottles and ink wells. If you do plan a visit, make sure you go at low tide so more of the sand is exposed. Furthermore, at least wear sneakers, if not hiking boots, because the glass will go right through a flip-flop if you step on it the wrong way.
Broken glass at Bottle Beach, Gateway National Recreation Area
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Last updated on December 17, 2024
