The Wild, Wild Beach

Dear sisters,

Hop in the Beach Buggy and let’s take a ride through the pioneer days of the Wild, Wild Beach. Gurnet/Saquish Beach.

My handsome Yankee and I have been working on a fun little side-project as a fundraiser for our beach community. We are in the midst of creating a Vintage Beach Photo wall calendar as a product to sell at our summer events this season. They make a great gift for beach lovers and residents love to have them for their cottages too!

At the well

Why a vintage theme rather than a cool, modern coastal vibe? We thought we might get more interest in our calendar if we featured images from the ‘good old days’ from our beach community. Plus it gave us an excuse to reach out to neighbors we might not have had a chance to visit with otherwise. We got some bites on our idea and through the generosity of a handful of residents we also secured enough keepers for the calendar with the side benefit of hearing each persons telling of when and how their families landed on the shorelines. One neighbor who’s lived there for at least 50 years, invited us in for brownies and coffee on a very blustery, rainy June day. We sat on her expansive second floor enclosed porch and watched the waves roll in and out and as the wind blew the falling rain sideways we went back in time.

The only way anyone could ” land ” on the shorelines back then was either by boat or horse and buggy.

One of the first Beach Farmgirls to keep chickens at the beach.

Even with today’s modern conveniences and 4 wheel drive to boot, it’s a job to prepare to get out to our little off grid beach cottage. Once we cross that wooden bridge we are ” beached ” until we head off to go home. I always forget something and we make do. I like to think I would have been able to do the same 100 years ago, but I’m not convinced of it.

There are no markets, restaurants, or any other sort of shopping or entertainment. Here in lies the true beauty of this special place. One has to make their own fun which leaves the possibilities wide open. I bet my beach farmgirl hat that these early residents were just as taken with this charming peninsula as we are today.

Gurnet Light, located near Duxbury, MA.( once one of the worlds leading ship building centers) has quite an impressive background. It was home to Americas first set of twin lights and the first woman lighthouse keeper, ( I would love to learn more about her ) and is also home to the country’s oldest wooden freestanding lighthouse.

Light Saving Stations and their crews played an important role for those out at sea and on land. Imagine having to go out in a small wooden boat, in the middle of the night in high seas, waves rolling over your head not certain you would return alive?

We’ve only scratched the surface of the good old ” beach ” days.  Just having the opportunity to see some of these images first-hand has whet our appetite for more!

The history of this beautiful barrier beach is as deep and wide as the ocean itself and can hardly be contained in one ‘Lil ole blog post, but I hope you enjoyed these snippets of The Wild, Wild Beach as much as we have.

Until our next shoreline visit~ Beach Blessings and Much Love

Land Ho!

Deb, The Beach Farmgirl  # 1199

PS. do any of you know a great printing company for bulk order Calendars?

PS. I’ll share the images we chose for the calendar in a future post!