American Veterans Memorial Pier
American Veterans Memorial Pier
Address:Shore Road at Bay Ridge Avenue
Brooklyn, NY, 11220
Coordinates(i): 40.638951061121°, -74.036757946014°
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The American Veterans Memorial Pier reaches 600 feet out into the Upper Bay at the foot of Bay Ridge Avenue (69th Street), where Shore Road meets the water. Many in Bay Ridge still call it the 69th Street Pier. It is a city park in its own right, run by NYC Parks, and the neighborhood's favorite fishing spot, with the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to the south and the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline across the harbor.
For Troop 23 the pier means the 9/11 vigil every September, and it is where Jalen's Eagle Scout project on the Shore Parkway Greenway began in 2026. It sits just south of Owl's Head Park, about a mile on foot from Our Lady of Angels, and is one of the city parks along the Bay Ridge shore.
The map above marks the walkway onto the pier at Shore Road, where the troop meets on vigil night.
From Ferry Pier to Memorial
The pier was once the Brooklyn landing of the Bay Ridge–St. George ferry to Staten Island. After the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964, it was opened to the public for the view, and because that view once took in the World Trade Center, a September 11 memorial was placed on the pier in 2005.
The memorial is the Beacon by Robert Ressler: a bronze speaking-trumpet 25 feet tall with a lamp inside, cast at the Bedi-Makky Foundry in Greenpoint and dedicated on May 16, 2005, a gift of Brooklyn Remembers, Inc. Its inscription reads: "Brooklyn Remembers... for those lost on September 11, 2001." On the night of the vigil the Beacon is lit, and the stage stands beside it.
The 9/11 Vigil
Every September 11 the neighborhood gathers on the pier, and Troop 23 has worked the vigil since 2021. Scouts do not come to watch. They hand out flags and programs at the walkway, assemble and give out the candles, join the presentation of colors with other troops, and line the walkway as families arrive. The vigil is presented by NIA Community Services Network with State Senator Andrew Gounardes and the local City Council member.
Getting There
The pier is at the western end of Bay Ridge Avenue (69th Street), where it meets Shore Road. From the R train at Bay Ridge Avenue it is three quarters of a mile on foot, about 17 minutes, and from Our Lady of Angels about a mile. The Shore Parkway Greenway passes the foot of the pier, so walkers, runners and cyclists on the waterfront path reach it too.
The pier is run by NYC Parks: nycgovparks.org, where the Beacon has a page of its own. Troop 23 is a Scouts BSA troop in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and every family starts the same way: come to a Monday meeting.