The reservation occupies a peninsula that juts out from Westport's mainland with Rhode Island Sound to the southwest and Buzzards Bay to the southeast. The reservation features of barrier beach, marshland, and a protected estuary habitat. Most of the marshland is concentrated at the northern portion of the peninsula bordering Horseneck Channel and The Let. The barrier island known as Gooseberry Neck is connected by a causeway to the main peninsula and is the southernmost extension of Horseneck Beach State Reservation. It partially divides Rhode Island Sound from Buzzards Bay.
History
The name of the beach is believed to derive from the Algonquin word hassanegk, meaning "a house made of stone." Summer homes were built in the area after a bridge connected the beach to Westport Point in 1893. After all were destroyed by hurricanes in 1938 and 1954, the state acquired Horseneck Beach in 1956. Gooseberry Neck was added to the state's holdings in 1957.
Activities and amenities
The state reservation offers fishing, windsurfing, motorized and non-motorized boating with boat ramp, trails for biking and walking, showers, hunting, and bird watching. The beach is located along the southern portion of the peninsula, bordering Rhode Island Sound and Buzzards Bay. Restroom facilities, management office, food bar, designated on-duty lifeguard towers, and paved walkways are found alongside the beach. A 100-site campground is located behind the dunes at Gooseberry Neck, at the eastern end of the reservation.
Accessibility
The state reservation is accessible from the Bascule Bridge via Route 88, an offshoot of Interstate 195. Route 88 is the main route of the two land routes to Horseneck. Route 88 ends on Horseneck, where John Reed Road, the main road serving the reservation, begins. John Reed Road ends at East Beach Road on the eastern portion of the peninsula. The other land route to Horseneck is East Beach Road via Horseneck Road, on the peninsula's connector, near the Westport/Dartmouth town boundary. The beach is accessible from the several large, designated parking lots via toll gates.
