Lake Ronkonkoma County Park Home of Syag Sports — Attraction in Town of Brookhaven

I visit here to reminisce about my childhood. Bavarian Inn was here on the Smithtown side. There once was a ferris wheel when I was three and my family moved nearby from Woodside, Queens. Blue Laws were in effect: no shopping on Sundays and no wearing of bathing suits from the car to the beach. It was required to change clothes in the Mens or Ladies rooms. The water was polluted then; it is worse now. Many area businesses leached raw sewage into the lake. Bavarian Inn was the greatest offender right up to the time when closing their doors forever. These days we have geese and ducks to admire. No boats are allowed, but I brought my Armac inflatable here as late as 1977, rowing around the perimeter. Everything is regulated now, a little too late. With COVID-19 SPOILING my fun, I discovered the Islip side open, Brookhaven side closed, and the Smithtown side (the most beautiful of all three) open, unofficially. Tents are erected, cooking on the grills and contaminated children swim while their mothers watch from Fort Blanket and Fort Beach Chair. The guard booth is unmanned and also unwomaned. Unpersoned? This is the place where memories so pleasant are recalled, the end of Vanderbilt's private race track we call "Motor Parkway". Come with the family for a picnic or the ballfield (when...

Lovely park. VEry well kept...in fact, while we were there, some landscapers were on site trimming the trees. Lots of park space to run around. There is a baseball diamond and a basketball court (2 hoops) as well. There is a playground which is currently closed due to the COVID pandemic. The beach area seemed very clean. People were relaxing and even some were fishing. I don't know the access laws for the park. We, city dwellers, were able to park in the parking lot between Smithtown Blvd and Lake Shore Road. Further up along Rosevale Avenue is access to another (maybe connected?!) area which has a beach area and tennis courts. Again, I don't know the access rules. (County residents only?! etc.) There was no fee for us upon entrance. Again this is a great and well maintained park. Great place for some R&R for the entire family. Also some lovely picturesque scenes of...

The basketball hoops are functional as well as the handball court. The playground is pretty big as well, but this park is not well maintained. These pictures were taken on July 24 and 25. (Full 24hrs apart) The mess was cleaned up by the 26th. The park is not big so it is impossible to imagine how it could be missed if they cleaned throughout the day. There is a LOT of broken glass all over this park.(basically any surface that isn't paved or the playground, watch out) The path around the park and the baseball fields is becoming quickly overgrown. Earlier this summer the dumped a mountain of mulch on one path and then nothing on the majority so weeds and vegetation are over a foot tall in the path.

As a free park, it gets 3 stars. As something they actually expect people to pay to visit,even town...