Students and Faculty attend the annual Volleyball Championship game in September

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory offers many amenities. It has extensive resources for recreational activities, including a fitness room; pool, table-tennis, and foosball tables; tennis and volleyball courts; a beach for swimming and fishing; sailboats, racing skulls and windsurfers; and many quiet back roads for running or walking. Laboratory staff participate in a summer volleyball league, winter basketball, and weekly soccer games. In March each year, Laboratory employees are invited for a ski trip to the Catskill Mountains. Blackford Hall provides dining facilities and an on-campus bar for the employees.

Click on the photo to read Megan Bodnar's perspective on student activities at the Watson School of Biological Sciences

The annual summer plate races outside Delbruck Laboratory

The Laboratory also hosts picnics in the summer and indoor parties in the winter. As a part of its meetings program, students may participate in afternoon wine-and-cheese gatherings and Saturday evening cocktail receptions with meetings participants. Students are also welcome to attend distinguished lectures and classical music performances sponsored by the Laboratory for scientists and the neighboring community.

Within an hour of the Laboratory are Manhattan and the magnificent beaches of the south shore of Long Island. New York City offers an extraordinary range of cultural events, shopping opportunities, fine restaurants, and world-famous museums. Theater-goers can enjoy musicals, comedies, and dramas in venues on and off Broadway. Music aficionados will find instrumental and vocal performances to suit all tastes, and sports enthusiasts can revel in a wide variety of athletic events . Occasionally friends of the Laboratory donate tickets for concerts and other events to employees and students of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.