The Belle Harbor Yacht Club, (est. 1905) and has been the mainstay organization in the community. Our founding fathers created an organization that prides itself on encouraging social and athletic activities on the Rockaway Peninsula.

   The B.H.Y.C. is many things to many people and has been for over a century.  It is a family club, a home away from home for its members.  It is a place to play tennis, to host a party, to dine, to rejoice. Since 1905, its members have come to play bridge, lawn tennis, fashion shows, art showings, Christmas parties, charity events and yes, once held the finest yachting races on the East Coast.  The club has hosted everything from weddings, baby showers to fishing tournaments, regattas' and Easter Egg Hunts.  In a quiet moment in the clubhouse, if you listen carefully, you might hear the echoes of thousands of feet that have danced throughout the decades, of voices raised in merriment, celebration and friendship.  Some of the senior members have claimed to have witnessed a friendly ghost or two in our club.

Surviving the tumultuous 20th century was no easy task for the Belle Harbor Yacht Club.  Our predecessors bought property, buit a clubhouse, paid off several mortgages, refurbished the clubhouse (several times) and kept the Club alive through the Great Depression, two World Wars, the Robert Moses era and the periodic hurricanes that battered the eastern shore lines.  Indeed the club's waterfront proves to be as resilient as the Belle Harbor Yacht Club's membership.

     The B.H.Y.C. is comprised of neighborhood families interested in keeping the tradition of service, volunteering, socializing and entertainment for many years to come. To quote a club-member, "The BHYC is the quintessential gathering place in our Rockaway community & our community's very own landmark".