Constitution Beach

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Constitution Beach is a small, crescent-shaped, sandy beach located in the Orient Heights section of East Boston, a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Known to locals as "Shays Beach," the most distinctive feature of the beach is that it directly faces part of Logan Airport, so that airplanes taking off and landing on Runways 22L and 22R are about 2,000 feet (610 m) away, making them prominently visible and audible.

The beach, which is about .25 of a mile (400m) long, is located in a protected inlet so the water, though part of the Atlantic Ocean, is always relatively placid. There are bathhouse facilities on the beach, as well as a snack bar, a children's play area, handball courts, basketball hoops, tennis courts, softball fields and an ice rink.

Constitution Beach and its facilities are located on 28 acres and were constructed in the early 1950s. The overpass that was built at the time, which allows pedestrians to cross over subway tracks to reach the beach from busy Bennington Street, had begun to deteriorate in the 1990s and was replaced by a new structure.