Jones Beach State Park (colloquially "Jones Beach") is a state park in the U.S. state of New York. It is located in southern Nassau County, in the hamlet of Wantagh, on Jones Beach Island, a barrier island linked to Long Island by the Meadowbrook State Parkway, Wantagh State Parkway, and Ocean Parkway. Jones Beach is named after Major Thomas Jones, a major in the Queens County militia in the 17th century, who established a whaling station on the outer beach near the site of the present park.