Guys, I finally made it to one of those almost mythical queer places I’d heard about forever but somehow never visited because it felt both so close and so far away… Cherry Grove, Fire Island in New York.
Cherry Grove is one of the oldest LGBTQ+ communities in the United States, with a queer history stretching back to at least the 1930s and 1940s, including a distinctly long history of lesbians and queer women.
Even though it’s just about an hour’s drive from New York City plus a 20-minute ferry ride, I’d always put it off because the logistics and research gave me pereza. How does it work? How far is the LIRR/parking from the ferry? What does one even do there? And how do you get around if cars aren’t allowed? It somehow sounded more complicated than booking a flight to Aruba.
Not to mention, traveling within the US, especially Long Island, can be relatively expensive. Just our DAY trip cost us about $200 for two people. But more on that later.
When our ferry finally reached this little beach town, one of the first things I saw was the biggest rainbow flags I’d ever seen flapping in the air – the original rainbow Pride flag alongside the newer Progress Pride flag. You disembark onto wooden boardwalks that feel vaguely reminiscent of Martha’s Vineyard, but I liked this better. Everything felt smaller, cozier, quieter and, well, very gay.
And as you move deeper into Cherry Grove, sleek green boardwalks weave between gorgeous beach houses with modern designs that make the whole place feel like some sort of artist and writer’s enclave. Beyond them are thick stretches of beach grass, dunes and coastal vegetation.
Here’s the rundown on what I think is one of the most special places to experience a queer/WLW day trip in New York – for queer beaches, nature, and women’s events, all wrapped into a calming little coastal setting.
First: How Does Fire Island Even Work?
If you’ve never been to Fire Island, it can be a little confusing at first.
Fire Island National Seashore protects about 26 miles of Fire Island, a roughly 32-mile-long barrier island running parallel to the South Shore of Long Island. The island stretches from the area around Robert Moses State Park in the west toward Smith Point County Park and the Fire Island Wilderness in the east.
But here’s the catch, the entire island is not connected by roads or paths. So you can’t really come to Cherry Grove and enjoy Ocean Beach, Robert Moses, etc all in one day, at least not easily. In fact, without cars and many areas prohibiting bikes, the only way to get from some towns to the other is either walking along the wooden boardwalks trails or sandy paths, or by Fire Island Water Taxi, for about $20 per person each way. But listen, That lack of cars is a huge part of the magic and why it feels so separate not just from NYC but the concrete modern world.
Of all the small “town” communities scattered along Fire Island, the most popular is Ocean Beach. This is the busiest, more developed version of Fire Island, with lots of restaurants, shops, and families. Including lots of straight people.
The Pines is another historic LGBTQ+ community, especially famous for its gay MEN scene, beautiful modernist homes, and, most notably, nightlife and parties.
And then there’s… Cherry Grove. [Insert music of holy angelic sunlight descending upon us.]
The sapphic-leaning queer beach town, and the one I would recommend most to queer women. And thank god, because we really need more spaces where queer women actually feel centered. Gay male and lesbian social culture can be… hilariously different, as demonstrated by this SNL parody that made me feel WAY too called out as I currently plan a sapphic friends’ getaway involving board games in the mountains.
Why Is Cherry Grove So Important to LGBTQ+ History?
Queer New Yorkers have been finding their way to Cherry Grove decades before Stonewall.
In the 1930s, gay men and lesbians from New York City’s artistic and theater communities began visiting the Grove. Its isolation made it particularly appealing at a time when LGBTQ+ people faced enormous social and legal persecution. And by the 1940s and 1950s, Cherry Grove had developed into a significant gay community and a refuge where queer people could socialize much more openly than they could on the mainland.
The Cherry Grove Community Association describes the town as having been distinctly gay since the 1940s, while also emphasizing the mix of gay and straight, Black and white, cisgender and transgender people who helped build the community.
Even the arts here have queer history. Cherry Grove’s Community House and Theatre dates back to the 1940s and eventually became an important space for queer theater and gender-bending performances at a time when such expression wasn’t welcome in much of the country.
What Cherry Grove Feels Like Today
As soon as we stepped off the ferry, there were enormous Pride flags flying above the dock. And I mean ENORMOUS. Some of the biggest I’ve ever seen in my life.
The entire place is unapologetically queer. And what surprised me most was how relaxed it felt. Now I’m itching to visit more queer-friendly travel destinations that give this same kind of energy.
Parts of Cherry Grove reminded me of Martha’s Vineyard, with beautiful coastal homes, weathered wood, tall grasses, and little pathways winding through the community, except without the same crowds.
And there weren’t hordes of screaming children and exhausted parents everywhere. Mostly adults. People were reading, walking their dogs, sitting outside, having drinks, and heading toward the beach.
We also didn’t find Cherry Grove overwhelmingly gay-male-centric in the way some LGBTQ+ destinations can sometimes feel to queer women. There were queer women, gay men, trans and nonbinary people, straight people, dog owners, and people who seemed to just want a peaceful day by the water.
For my fellow POC, from what I personally observed during our visit, the crowd also felt roughly 30% BIPOC and 70% white. We felt welcomed and cared for here. Everyone was incredibly friendly.
A “Shops & Downtown” Area?
Cherry Grove doesn’t really have a downtown in the traditional sense. The ferry port area has a handful of restaurants, bars, small shops, and services before the boardwalks branch off toward the homes, the beach, and other outdoor spaces like Sunken Forest (more on each further below).
Don’t come expecting a Martha’s Vineyard-style main street filled with boutiques and souvenir shops (though I kinda wish they did because I’d LOVE a Cherry Grove apparel to both support and queer signal in the wild).
You won’t really find places to grab necessities, so if you want specific beach supplies, snacks or other essentials, I’d buy them in Sayville before getting on the ferry. We actually used our accidental ferry delay to do exactly that.
Once you’re here, the real attraction is the community itself: the beach, beautiful homes, boardwalk paths, queer history, bars and restaurants, nature and, depending on when you visit, the events.
How to Get to Cherry Grove From NYC
Unless you have access to a boat, you have to get to the town of Sayville on Long Island. To get to Sayville from NYC, you have two main options.
Option 1: Drive to Sayville + Ferry
Drive to the Sayville Ferry terminal, park and take the ferry directly to Cherry Grove.
Parking at the lot across from the terminal costs $13 per day Monday through Thursday and $24 per day Friday through Sunday and holidays.
The Cherry Grove ferry currently costs $11 one-way or $20 round-trip. Dogs are supposedly an additional $4 one-way or $7 round-trip, but we didn’t get charged for our dogs.
Option 2: LIRR + Ferry
You can also take the Long Island Rail Road from NYC to Sayville and then connect to the ferry terminal. From there, you can either walk 25 minutes or take a shuttle bus for 5 minutes. The shuttle buses are $5 each way, cash only, and they wait for groups that arrive on the LIRR. So look out for a little white bus van.
But learn from our mistake: CHECK THE FERRY SCHEDULE BEFORE YOU LEAVE. These aren’t ferries leaving every ten minutes. We arrived around noon thinking we’d simply hop on the next boat. Nope. Our next ferry wasn’t until around 1:30 PM.
The silver lining was that it gave us time to explore downtown Sayville, where we stopped at Cornucopia Natural Foods, an independent natural-food store that’s been serving Sayville since 1976. We grabbed snacks and goodies for our beach day before heading back to the ferry. I spent about $55 on beach snacks and beverages for two people here.
So I repeat: check the current Cherry Grove ferry schedule and work backward from there, when planning your trip.
What to Pack for a Cherry Grove Day Trip
You don’t need much, but if you’re planning to do beach and trails, I’d bring:
- Beach snacks and water
- A waterproof beach blanket, beach tent, or easy-to-carry shade like UV umbrellas
- Sunscreen
- A book, do journaling, or listen to one of my fav sapphic audiobooks
- Camera
- Phone charger or portable charger if you’re not driving
- Swimsuit and towel
- Long loose linen pants because the mosquitoes can be vicious
- Pup supplies if you’re bringing your dog
- Comfortable shoes like Birkenstocks – You’re probably going to walk a LOT. Birks were perfect because I could wear them on the boardwalks, sandy trails, and beach without thinking about it.
A lot of people bring a little wagon or trolley to carry their things. We brought everything in two big tote bags per person. We left everything in our tent while we walked around town and along the trails.
Cherry Grove Is Particularly Dog-Friendly
Cherry Grove is surprisingly dog-friendly, including the ferries and water taxis. In most New York beaches, the National Park Service restricts pets in most beaches from March 15 through Labor Day. But not on Cherry Grove!
Speaking of pups, please take ticks VERY seriously.
Long Island has a major tick problem. If you’re going on the forest trails, spray or give your dog veterinarian-recommended tick prevention, avoid letting them wander through tall grasses unnecessarily, and thoroughly check both your dog and yourself after your visit.
Ticks in this region can transmit serious lifelong illnesses including Lyme disease, and Lone Star tick bites have also been associated with alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy to meat and dairy.
Don’t let that scare you away from visiting. Just don’t treat ticks like an afterthought.
What to Do in Cherry Grove
1. Go to the beach
The beach is a few minutes’ walk from the ferry dock, straight through the small town to the ocean side.
There are no lifeguards or public bathrooms, and there’s nothing to buy once you’re on the sand. I saw people swimming. We dipped our feet. But note that this section of Fire Island can have rip currents, so be on the lookout. Use the boardwalk dune crossings instead of cutting over the dunes.
2. “Hike” the Sunken Forest
About 30 minutes walking from the beach is Sunken Forest, a maritime holly forest at Sailors Haven. The New York Natural Heritage Program ranks it as globally rare, meaning there are very few places left in the WORLD with this particular assemblage of plants.
Some of the holly are about 300 years old, and none of the trees can grow taller than the double dune system that shelters them from salt spray. That’s why it’s “sunken.” You walk along a boardwalk trail, a 1.5-mile loop that takes about an hour.
3. Stroll through the community
Don’t just get off the ferry and sprint toward the beach.
Some of the homes here are GORGEOUS. You can tell there’s serious money on parts of this island, but the architecture still feels integrated into the coastal landscape.
You’ll stroll along wooden walkways and boardwalks that connect homes surrounded by beach grasses and other vegetation.
There were moments walking through the tall grasses where New York suddenly felt very far away. It made me wonder what more of its coastline might have looked like before development got to it.
4. Grove LGBTQ+ history self-guided walking tour
The Cherry Grove Archives Collection has 23 photography panels installed around town from their SAFE/HAVEN exhibition. It shows gay and lesbian life in the Grove in the 1950s. Some of the panels have QR codes so you can stand there and listen to longtime residents talk. Which means the pretty-houses wandering you’re already doing quietly turns into a history walk.
5. Go out at night
Full disclosure: we didn’t do this. We didn’t stay overnight. We were on a beach-hiking-and-dogs day trip, not a Saturday-night one.
But drag, dancing and parties are a MAJOR part of Grove culture, and the Ice Palace at the Grove Hotel bills itself as the longest continuously running LGBTQ+ nightclub in the world.
6. Walk over toward the Pines
Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines are close enough to walk between, either along the beach or through the wooded stretch in the middle known as the Meat Rack. Which is, historically and currently, a gay cruising area. You do NOT need to do this on a day trip. But it’s a piece of Fire Island lore, just so you know.
Cherry Grove’s Sapphic Events
If you’re specifically looking for queer women events, plan around the calendar.
LezVolley is a big one. This is an annual beach volleyball tournament on the Cherry Grove sand, with up to 30 teams across five courts and thousands of people over the weekend. It’s women-focused and open to anyone LGBTQIA+ except cis men, including trans women, trans men, and non-binary players. The event is free to watch, which is the easiest way to see Cherry Grove at its gayest and most sapphic. It’s held in August.
Cherry Grove Weekend of Women (CG WoW) runs in early October. The organizers describe it as three days of music, art, healing, and community celebrating the Divine Feminine, open to all women (cis, trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive) and allies. Their tagline, “when the last ferry sails to Sayville, Cherry Grove is OURS,” tells you what kind of weekend it is. Heads up: Tickets are $175, and you’ll need to stay over for this one, so book a room and book it early.
Other events:
- Arts Project of Cherry Grove – They keep a packed calendar at the Community House, which has the “oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ theatre and community house in the United States.”
- Cherry Grove Archives Collection – It’s run its own LGBTQ+ summer film festival since 2015.
- Trans Celebration Weekend (September) – Includes the New York Transgender Film Festival at the Cherry Grove Theater. There are screenings, mixers, a creators’ panel, and awards day. It’s organized by trans filmmaker Parker Sargent.
- Grove & Pines Film Festival (September 2026) – The newest one on the calendar, split between Whyte Hall in the Pines and the Cherry Grove Community House.
- Fire Island Theater Festival (September 2026) – Takes over both communities and includes a Ring of Keys concert, the organization supporting queer women, trans, and gender-nonconforming musical theatre artists.
Where to Eat and Drink in Cherry Grove
There aren’t endless restaurants here, which is part of the appeal.
We liked Cherry’s on the Bay, nothing out of this world but it also hit the spot, especially because it’s right by the ferry and sits on the water. It’s very no-frills: burgers, wings, salmon and other casual American plates. But it’s the location makes it perfect for grabbing food or drinks while watching the sunset before catching your ferry back.
Sand Castle is another option if you want something that feels a little more… expensive. It had an older, whiter, slightly more old-school-money crowd that reminded me a little of the Hamptons.
And Top of the Bay Bistro looked AMAZING, but unfortunately it was closed when we visited. So you’ll have to go and report back to me on whether it lives up to the hype.
Read More Queer Travel & NYC Guides
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