Citizen Scientists Zoom in on Norton Point Breach
Olivia Hull

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.

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Some Fee Hikes Approved for OSVs at Norton Point Beach
Olivia Hull

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.

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As Breach Retreats, Erosion Picks Up Speed
Tom Dunlop

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.

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Abandoned Sailboat Washes Ashore at Norton Point
Mark Alan Lovewell

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.

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History and Science Tell of Cycles of Rapid Erosion at Wasque Point
Tom Dunlop

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.

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Norton Point Breach Focus of Scientific Study
Sara Brown

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.”

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Beware Shortsighted Answer to Erosion
David R. Foster

When George Santayana wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” he was not envisioning people repeating their own mistakes. But that is what is transpiring at Wasque Point on Chappaquiddick this spring. In 2007 the Schifter family completed a large house about 300 feet from the bluff edge. Six years later, with the house poised to fall into the ocean, they are proposing to move it about 300 feet from the edge while damaging the environment and native artifacts and disrupting users of this magnificent landscape.

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Possible Shipwreck Remnants Discovered
Mark Alan Lovewell

Shifting sand at both Wasque and Lucy Vincent Beach has uncovered what may be parts of two shipwrecks.

Last Sunday afternoon, Andrew Orcutt of Edgartown and Albany was out walking the shoreline near Wasque and the Norton Point breach. He discovered remnants of what appeared to be a ship in the wash.

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Norton Point Closed to Vehicles to Protect Piping Plover Chicks
James Kinsella

Norton Point Closed to Vehicles to Protect Piping Plover Chicks

By JAMES KINSELLA

Over the past four days, public and private officials have closed
sections of Norton Point and East Beach to four-wheel-drive vehicles to
protect newly hatched piping plover chicks and nests with eggs yet to
hatch.

In Massachusetts, the piping plover is a threatened species. After
hatching, the chicks take about 30 days before they fly, making them
vulnerable to the tires of four-wheel-drive vehicles driving along a
beach.

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Bringing Back Norton Point

Bringing Back Norton Point

Trustees of Reservations Assume Management of Barrier Beach;
Shorebird Protection Increases but Fishing Access Preserved

By IAN FEIN

Stretching from Metcalf's Hole to Mattakesett Creek, bordered
by the calm surface of Katama Bay and the rough waves of the Atlantic
Ocean, Norton Point Beach is a spectacular place - offering
popular spots for shellfishermen and surfcasters, prime habitat for rare
shorebirds, and a vital access route for people going to and from
Chappaquiddick.

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