Sunken Meadow State Park began as several parcels of land owned by the town of Smithtown that were combined to form the park. When the park first opened in 1928, it was large. This land had been given to the state by a public vote of 493–436 (for vs. against) with promises of a new parkway and expanded facilities. By 1949, this had been expanded over to , with of beach. Due to restrictive land usage in Nassau County for a parkway, Robert Moses and the Long Island State Park Commission announced that the burden of providing a beach on the northern shore of Long Island rested on Sunken Meadow State Park. However, no funding had been received for the new parkway, which had been requested.