The following is a quote from a notice prepared by Dennis Goldin and posted on the Chappaquiddick Island Association website: “Many homeowners living in Massachusetts are unaware that the power lines delivering their electricity are privately owned rather than owned by Eversource. As such, when the power line breaks, Eversource is obligated to determine where the break has occurred. If the break is on a private line they will respond with ‘who is your electrician?’ Eversource owns the transformers, however, the lines are privately owned and the homeowners’ responsibility.”

If you are on a private line maybe you have had this experience.

Dylan Fernandes, our state representative, has been working with the state attorney general’s office and others on the issue of private utility lines and poles with the ultimate goal that Eversource take them over. Visit the Chappaquiddick Island Association website for a further detailed explanation in the news/issues section. I think that you will find the information very interesting.

The Chappy ferry will begin operating on the summer schedule beginning on the Thursday before the Memorial Day weekend, May 24. We used to start it on that Friday but it turns out the really clever weekenders arrive the evening before to avoid the crush of traffic on the off-Island roads and on the big ferries. On the summer schedule, the ferry operates continuously from 6:45 a.m. through midnight, weather permitting.

For the middle of May there seems to be a much greater number of tourists than normal coming down to the wharf to observe the ferry. We are also getting a lot more vehicles, bicycles and even mopeds going over on the ferry to find the Dike bridge. From the conversations that I have had with several of these folks, we can credit the recent release of a movie called Chappaquiddick for this sudden renewed interest in the ferry and the bridge.

As you know, Google earth is a very convenient program for finding your way to just about any destination. For years, Google was unaware that the last 50 feet of Dock street in front of the Sculpin Gallery is one-way coming off the ferry. That meant that folks hankering for destinations on Chappaquiddick would be directed by Google to get to the ferry along Dock street which resulted in many wrong-way head-on encounters with ferry traffic. Through the Google map edit website I was able to get them to recognize from their own photo that Dock street is indeed one-way just before you get to the ferry. It only took half a dozen tries over the course of half of a year. That change helped a whole lot to keep folks from going astray.

But since the movie came out, people unfamiliar with Edgartown also seek out the ferry itself. If you asked Google to take you to the Chappy Ferry, it would deliver you to the front door of the ferry house which has traditionally been 53 Dock street. That was fine if you just wanted to lean on the fence for a while and watch the ferry boats come and go. But most want to have a joy ride on the ferry that was in the movie. Of course, there is still that pesky issue of Dock street being one-way at such a critical spot.

It occurred to me that if the address of the ferry house was 53 Daggett street rather than 53 Dock street that Google earth would direct travelers to the top of Daggett street rather than the end of Dock street. I found my way back to the Google earth editing website and was able to suggest this change. I am astonished to report that it got changed in less than 12 hours. I was sure that it would take at least until Labor Day. Hopefully, that will help to keep the disoriented tourists to a minimum and the traffic snarls to the level of frustration that we are used too. We shall see soon enough.

Send Chappaquiddick news to peterchappyferry@gmail.com.