Orchard Beach Portrait By Wayne Lawrence, Bronx, NYC, United States

While surrounded by acres of natural forest, marshlands and coastline, the beach is actually man-made. It was the urban planner Robert Moses who came up with the concept and planning for its construction. The process involved filling in approximately one third of Pelham Bay with landfill, followed by a total of 1.2 million cubic yards of sand, brought by barge from Sandy Hook, New Jersey and the Rockaways in Queens. The landfill was put between Rodman's Neck, Twin Island and Hunters Island; the latter two are no longer islands since being connected to the mainland Bronx by the landfill. In 2010 construction began on the beach jetty, extending the jetty. Approximately 268,000 cubic yards of sand was pumped onto the beach to replace sand lost over the years. The sand was dredged from the Ambrose Channel by a Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company hopper dredge, the Padre Island, working under a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. These acts will make the beach safer for swimmers.