The Norton Point breach has been part of an ongoing cycle of nature. The current breach began seven years ago, and as a result erosion on Chappaquiddick has intensified.
The Norton Point breach has been part of an ongoing cycle of nature. The current breach began seven years ago, and as a result erosion on Chappaquiddick has intensified.
Fees are going up for over-sand vehicle permits, as the Trustees of Reservations work to enhance stewardship and generate more revenue for the fragile barrier beach. The county commission approved hikes to annual permits, but held off on approval for daily pass increases.
Dramatic changes are taking place again at Wasque where the Norton Point breach continues to have a mind of its own. The breach has retreated 800 feet since September, leaving one summer house at the brink.
Salvage plans are under way for an abandoned 36-and-a-half-foot sailboat that washed up at Norton Point beach on Friday night.
No one was aboard the Running Free, which was abandoned in the Bermuda Triangle on Mother’s Day.
On a misty, windy morning in April 2007 Chris Kennedy, Martha’s Vineyard superintendent for The Trustees of Reservations, had just returned from the part of South Beach in Edgartown known as Norton Point.
The night before Katama Bay had filled to overflowing by the flood of an astronomical high tide, topped off by the overwash and storm surge of a Patriots’ Day gale.
The breach at Norton Point, with its ever-shifting inlet, dramatic changes in currents and resulting severe erosion, has been billed as “one of the most dynamic coastal systems in Massachusetts.”
