On the East End, the summer is primetime for fun. Cruising through small towns by pastoral farms, rows of vines stretching toward the sun and pretty main streets from the string of hamlets dotting the North Fork is a great way to spend a summer afternoon. As is rolling up to bay-front, rocky beaches for a day on the shore, a haven for families looking for calmer waters to splash around in or to go fishing.
But for some, your blood only starts pumping after signing a safety waiver. For these folks, $300 buys you the opportunity to jump out of an airplane and fall toward Shirley with a stranger strapped to your back.
Now, however, there’s a spot that falls smack in the middle on the adventure-o-meter: Scott’s Pointe (5835 Middle Country Road, Calverton), the indoor-outdoor adventure park almost 30 years in the making.
Family Fun
The 43-acre park opened last year, and is still growing. It already has an indoor surf wave, and if you count bouncing off the giant inflatable Aquapark outside — or maybe being lowered down the rock wall inside — as catching air, you’ve got land, sea and air experiences all covered in one ZIP code.
“I’m 30 years old and it feels like the only thing a 30-year-old can do is go to a bar,” says Corey Lohr, from Holbrook, who visited Scott’s Pointe after passing by it on his way to work. “The first time I went, it was with a buddy and we ended up spending six hours there and got dinner at their restaurant after.”
Scott’s Pointe’s hook is its range of activities, from indoor traditional wood swing sets for kids to high-end golf simulators for bigger kids and laser tag for just about everyone in between. “I went back the next weekend with my 5- and 6-year-old nephews, my sister, brother-in-law and my father because they have so much stuff under one roof and everyone can find something to do,” says Lohr.
Port Jefferson Station native Eric Scott bought the former Navy base in Calverton, more than 40 acres, from the Town of Riverhead back in 1999 for about $1.1 million. Since then, the Scott family has been working to create a destination for East End residents and those visiting for the summer.
“We’re an energetic family,” says co-owner Cody Scott. “Whether that’s motorsports, hiking, rock climbing or even going to dinner — if it’s fun, we’ll do it, and we have a hard time controlling ourselves.”
Eric, Cody and Cody’s brother, Jake, run the daily operations, while their cousin, Ken Myers, oversees the casual on-site restaurant, the Lake View Grill. The Scotts spent more than $70 million developing the park. As part of the 10-year property tax abatement given by the Town of Riverhead, the park estimated it would draw 900,000 guests annually.
Scott’s Pointe, which was initially called Island Water Park, opened in 2023, splitting its attractions between indoor ones, housed in a massive hangar-like building, and outdoor fun centered around a man-made lake. The Scotts, owners of Calverton’s Island Water Sports boat dealership, are no strangers to having fun on the water.
“We grew up in Riverhead and we would wakeboard in Port Jefferson Harbor,” Scott says. And while the adventure park is a larger operation and undertaking, it’s still a family-run business. When the trucks pulled in to deliver and set up the massive inflatable Aquapark, the Scotts rolled up their sleeves — or, more accurately, put on their wetsuits.
“Me, my brother, and our truck driver put on scuba gear and went to work setting the anchors on the bottom of the lake ourselves,” Scott says.
Surf’s Up
Inside the 75,000-square-foot building, guests will find the majority of Scott’s Pointe’s attractions, the most unique of which is the Surf Wave. This curved, matted wall includes a section of quarter-pipe that rests above a tank holding 100,000 gallons of water. Pumps push out a 2- to 3-inch-thick sheet of water at high speed up over the wall, which keeps riders standing upright — once they learn the mechanics.
Ordering a surf wave isn’t something you turn to Amazon for. “We found a company that builds them and they sent out three installers, and the company owner, who came on site and I did some of the welding,” says Scott. “We’re a very involved family. Anytime there’s a gap that needs to be filled, it’s me, my dad, my brother — one of us is in there doing it.”
Users can ride a small surfboard or a version that straps to the feet, like a snowboard, as they float between the wave’s two sections. Those who are really good can catch some air off the quarter pipe and pull off some tricks.
Nearby, the Kids Room has a ninja warrior course that tests upper body strength and body control, a 144-square-foot area filled with toys aimed at sensory playing, a warp wall section with three curved surfaces of different heights, a section for VR gaming, rock climbing, and a wood jungle gym. The arcade section has a variety of games, from a crane-style prize-grabbing game to traditional Skee-Ball-style game with basketball and a ticket redemption counter to claim prizes.
Photos by Jeremy Garretson
Kids of all ages can join in the 3,000-square-foot laser tag section, where teams comprised of up to 26 people zap each other with light guns in a room with glow-in-the-dark walls and black lights. Adults have their own sort of video gaming, in the form of golf simulators and race car driving stations. And if you need a break from the screentime, you can walk over to the four ax-throwing boards. There is a strong sense of competition at Scott’s Pointe, including a 22-foot acrylic climbing wall so two people can race to the top, following the same route, while looking the competition right in the face.
Getting Out
Outside is where you start to see the Scott family leave their mark, in the form of a 13-acre lake that reaches depths of 10 to 20 feet, which was initially designed for wakeboarding, something the family has been doing for years, including teaching new boat owners the ropes. The 2-acre Aquapark, consisting of blue and white inflatables, represents a giant obstacle course that challenges athletes of all ages.
Fully loaded, the sides, floating docks, monkey bars and jungle gym of the Aquapark can hold nearly 300 guests. Scott says there are plans to install a wakeboarding ride that would pull guests across the water with a cable, instead of a boat, hurling them over obstacles and ramps. Surrounding the lake, you’ll find about 5 acres of beach and woods, the former of which will eventually be outfitted with cabanas, picnic tables, trails for walking around the compound and volleyball courts.
A $37.50 general admission pass gets you access to all the indoor activities except for the surf pool, which starts at an additional $30 for 30 minutes, and golf simulators which start at $40. Visit scottspointe.com for a full rundown of activities and events.
“The reaction we get is, ‘We can’t believe this is here on Long Island,’” says Scott. “This is stuff that we have that people do when they’re on a cruise, or when they go to Florida, the Bahamas or Aruba.”
