Islip breaks ground on sensory garden at Brookwood Hall as town focuses on greater accessibility at parks

Islip Town’s first sensory garden is on track to open by the end of this year, officials said at a groundbreaking ceremony last week, part of an effort to beautify and improve accessibility at town parks. 

The Parks Foundation of Islip, a private nonprofit focused on the beautification of Islip Town-owned parks, has already started construction on the 1-acre park at Brookwood Hall, which will be geared for people with different abilities. 

Called Serenity Gardens, the park will include four sections catering to people with visual and hearing impairments, Alzheimer’s or dementia, those on the autism spectrum, seniors and veterans.

The garden will include features designed to heighten senses, including fragrant plants and flowers, a garden with a Braille system for the blind and a walking labyrinth made of stones. Sensory-walking materials such as mulch, tactile pads, rubber and gravel, where parkgoers can take off their shoes and experience the textures through touch, will be used, Newsday previously reported. 

“It’s really neighbors helping neighbors,” said John King, chairman of the Parks Foundation. He said the land, which was previously unused, is being provided for free through a lease with the town. 

The $2 million project has been in the works since 2019 and is entirely funded through donations and sponsors such as the Entenmann’s Foundation, said Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter. It’s the first major project undertaken by the Parks Foundation.

“The Serenity Garden is happening because of the efforts of some very caring individuals in our town,” Carpenter said July 12. 

Carpenter said there’s more focus on accessibility as Islip refurbishes town parks, including swings in Ronkonkoma that can accommodate a wheelchair. The state also granted the town $500,000 last year to fund the town's fist inclusive play space at Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood.

“We’re doing that more and more,” Carpenter said. 

Other Long Island towns have made similar efforts.

For instance, Nassau County’s first Respite Care Relief Park for families affected by dementia-related illness, which impacts more than 50,000 Long Islanders, opened in May. The state also granted $550,000 last year for an inclusive playground in Rockville Centre, and Carle Place's Charles J. Fuschillo Park will reopen July 22 with the first accessible playground in the Town of North Hempstead for children with disabilities. 

The Town of Brookhaven's disability task force has focused on improving accessibility for years, installing features such as wheelchair-accessible swings in parks and launching a flower bed initiative at the Holtsville Ecology Center in conjunction with the town highway department to help disabled children strengthen their senses.

Audrey Smith, executive director at Long Island Select Healthcare, which specializes in care for people with disabilities, praised Islip's plans for the Serenity Gardens but said Long Island towns could be doing more to improve accessibility.

"We all need a place that's clean, that is visually appealing," she said. "We need spaces that are close to our home to be able to just decompress. Being out in nature, I think, is so important for health elements." 

Dwayne Diesu, vice chair of the Parks Foundation, said subcommittees with representatives from the communities the Islip park is meant to cater to will help with the design. 

“That is the most important thing for us, is to make sure that each of these segments are as impactful as possible,” he said.

King said the park will be an enclosed, quiet area and the Parks Foundation is looking for input from the community on what they’d like to see there.

By Brianne Ledda

brianne.ledda@newsday.com@brianne_ledda

Brianne Ledda covers the Town of Islip for Newsday. She previously covered Southold and Greenport for The Suffolk Times and is a graduate of Stony Brook University.