October 6, 9:45 AM. Congratulations! North Beach holding steady, weather calm and minimum tides predicted for this week, back to 5 foot tides Monday 10/13. Back 0n 9/23 Hammatt's camp was about 27 feet from high tide. Can someone give us an estimate of the distance of the Shea and Coppedge camps from high tide?

Bill H.

Glad to hear of the success, I know it was not with out problems.

I trust we have a 'mild' winter that allows the dunes and grasses to heal and that the remaining Camps remain safe.

The camp has arrived at its new location. The last pull was about 6PM yesterday. We now need to put it on cribbing and rebuild the dune that was moved to accomodate the relocation.
I will breath a little sigh of relief for awhile!
The erosion south of me and the building are shared between the northerly remaining opart og the Scott property and my southern easterly line. It is growing but most of the growth seems to be west.

Edited by author 10-05-2008 08:08 AM
October 5, 8:00 AM. Hammatt move completed! See photo. Blue flag to wrack line about 200 plus feet, blue flag to lower beach platform about 360 feet.

Guys, I dont have an oar in this race. Camera just shows that erosion stopped and beach started growing either on Thayer or Seashore property. Surveys and photos can arrive at a more precise evaluation.

Edited by author 10-04-2008 12:56 PM
October 4, 12:10PM. Work progressing on Hammatt move. North Beach extension about 240 feet.

12:55 PM. Looks like actual move may commence this afternoon. When things quiet down could someone give us an update?

October 3, 12:52 PM. There are now several people preping the Hammatt camp to continue the move.

Title issues on Nauset Beach, (be it South Beach in Orleans or North Beach in Chatham) have often been complex and in the past title in Chatham was transfered at least twice to different parties. In 1958 Superior Court reviewed three land/deed claims and rendered a decision. To the three parties,Joshua Nickerson, George Bearse and Eleanor Edison, quick clam deeds were given. Also with the signing of public law 87-126 the CCNS was created with its own land use controls and property acquisition mechanisms.

Title in Orleans is a bit easier with the Town of Orleans taking all of the Nauset Beach property by a friendly eminent domain takings in late 1950's (1957). To retain that property as Town owned rather than to potentially loose all or parts of it to proposed CCNS. And than recently further qualifying ownership and historic usage by entering in agreements ("use license") with the principals of the 12 Camps remaining in Orleans over long term use, care and maintenance last year.

I agree with Thadd let those issues of ownership and title remain quiet for now. It is better to have something to fight over than to have nothing.

Bill S. Please do not try to figure the ownership of the beach. As I have stated, it is the most difficult boundary challenge due to the lack of information and the vague legal concept of avulsion.

In my opinion, based on the information available, it is highly likely that many of the submerged private properties still exist. The last time I was at Scatteree at dead low tide, there was a bar accross most of the inlet. The photographs have shown sand from the point south.

Further, given the migratory nature of sand - especially as it forms ripples, I have to assume that small portions of many of the private properties have been in existence since the breach. The properties further south, where there has been photographic evidence of a deep channel, may be lost.

The entire topic needs to be reviewed by the owners: CCNS, TOC and Private Owners. Once they figure an agreement, it may have to go before the public. Until then, all any of us can do is wait, watch and see.

Given my knowledge of the topic, I have been very careful not to state that any land has been completely lost. I have seen many partially submerged parcels continue to exist.

Edited by author 10-03-2008 11:19 AM
Indeed! Steve batty and I were just batting around some ideas. Might all be a moot point after this winter!

What I thought was someone working on the move might have just been an innocent beachwalker. Will keep an eye out.

You're right sand bars!

Bill S,
Are these 'sand spits' connected to the upland beach at low tide or are they sand bars?

As Thadd and I have discussed in the past the question of title to newly risen lands is tricky. It becomes even more tricky due to the language that is in the federal act that created the CCNS. In terms of the CCNS park boundaries description. The Town of Chatham may even have a claim as well.

Now lets say the island reconnects with the existing beach, and the buildup is in both directions, the property owner on the island may also have a claim over lands to his/her north as strong as the claim from the north property owner over lands to his/her south.

Makes for good legal and land title theory discussion for the cold winter months.

October 3, 10:40 AM. Hammatt move appears to be underway with prep work being done on track. Blue flag to inlet about 240 feet low tide. Appears that there may be new sand spits forming closer to Minister's Point.

Edited by author 10-02-2008 10:14 AM
October 2, 9:55 AM. New pattern of North Beach growth and oceanside erosion has interesting implications. First it means that theoretically either the CCNS or perhaps the Thayers constitute "the last man standing" and could thus claim ownership over new beach growth. The seashore because it owns the Scott lot between Hammatt and Thayer. Second, it means that the neat relationship between oceanside erosion and north beach recession has broken down so it is more difficult to say precisely when camps may be endangered. We hope to improve this situation when Thadd puts up some color coded flags running East to West that will provide early warnings of oceanside erosion. Still about 200 feet from blue flag south to inlet. No sign of Hammatt camp move.

Edited by author 10-01-2008 04:23 PM
October 1, 10:28 AM. Last day of 5 foot high tides should give some wiggle room to complete moving the Hammatt camp. The south side spit appears to have grown about 250 feet since mid July, which should also make it about 100 feet closer to Minister's Point. Existing flags on the north side spit appear to be about 60 feet apart which is ideal. Thanks!

Thadd, what I thought was the excavator cab was the corner of the deck in low light. Must be in Bill H's driveway directly behind his camp and out of the camera's line of vision.

Any reports of trail conditions and oceanside erosion?

2:08 PM. Sizable waves near high tide. Could be some East side erosion. 200 plus feet blue flag to last inlet marker near high tide.

October Storms: Three tropical storms are expected to form in the Atlantic in October, two may strengthen into hurricanes.

Any word on when move can start up again? I don't trust oceanside erosion.

Great idea. Just a rough estimate but it looks like the north and south sides of the inlet have grown about 500 feet this summer, so that the distance from dry land to dry land is now about 2,000 feet instead of 2,500 feet as seen on Ted Keon's photo on the cover of the website.
Flags would help nail this down. Thanks for the info on the excavator!

Thadd,

Any thoughts on trying to set some benchmarks (flags) on the island as well? Most of the attention has been on the beach and very little has been on the 'new' island, and what's happening with its topography/ shoreline.

Also what about setting some flags that would be useful from the view point (web cam) located at the Scattertree Landing area?

CW Rice
On Sep 30, 2008, at 2:32 PM, QT - Thadd Eldredge wrote:

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