It’s a good thing they have “sand fences” along some of the beaches on Cape Cod. It’s like a snow fence, but acts the same way for sand.
I loved this photograph of this sand fence at Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown which trapped the sand so high that people were walking over it to get to the beach. I took the photograph standing on the edge of the parking lot.
And then I edited it 2 ways and I couldn’t decide which one I liked better. What do you think?
Nauset Beach, one of the most popular beaches on Cape Cod and part of the National Seashore, has changed dramatically since the Nor’Easter last weekend. We were able to take a little walk on the beach from the trail at the end of the parking lot where the ocean went over the dune.
The first photograph is looking back at Liam’s on the left. The 2nd photograph is looking down Nauset Beach toward Chatham. It doesn’t look anything like the Nauset Beach 2 weeks ago. You can see how high the tide comes in. This is about midway between low tide and high tide.
Just totally amazing how things can change so drastically in so short a time period.
Update: We stopped at Nauset Beach yesterday afternoon and the gazebo between the parking lot and the beach has been removed.
Liam’s at Nauset Beach, a popular summer clam shack known for its “world famous onion rings” will be demolished this week after the Nor’easter last weekend. The storm decimated the dune in front of Liam’s and now Liam’s on the verge of falling into the ocean.
Liam’s at Nauset Beach has been a popular summer restaurant for 63 years, originally known as Philbrick’s Snack Shack. Jon Ohman took it over in 1990 and renamed it Liam’s.
Back in 1954, more than 250 feet of sand and beach grass separated the shack from the ocean. Erosion usually takes about 12 feet per year but two powerful storms in the past two months have swallowed up more than 60 feet of the protective buffer.
There have been so many people stopping by Liam’s and Nauset Beach, almost as if it were “calling hours” to say their last goodbyes. So sad. The storm last weekend has taken 2 icons in the area…. the majestic tree at Fort Hill and now Liam’s at Nauset Beach.
As Jon said to us yesterday, “It is truly a day that we can be in awe of nature.”
I took this photograph of the bench, our favorite picnic spot, on Saturday during the storm at high tide, looking out at Nauset Marsh, but there is no marsh. It looks like the ocean has come ashore.
This 2nd photograph is of Hemenway Landing next to Fort Hill where you can see the boats washed ashore. This is also on Nauset Marsh which looked like a raging ocean. Wow!
Coast Guard Beach was hammered last weekend during the huge storm. I took a run down to the beach to see what it looked like, but couldn’t get to the beach because the water was so high. This is as far as I got along the trail. The ocean was raging!
The 2nd photograph shows the boardwalk on Nauset Marsh that we walk on to get from Coast Guard Beach to Doane Rock underwater. That is unbelievable! I have never seen the water this high!
The beautiful, hundreds of years old, iconic tree at Fort Hill on Cape Cod has fallen. How very sad. We were shocked to see this beauty down. It has graced the landscape of Fort Hill, part of the National Seashore, for many, many years.
We stopped at Fort Hill again this morning and the owner of the house and the “tree” was outside. We expressed our condolences. She said she was having “Visiting Hours” for anyone who wanted to stop by. 🙁
Unbelievable what Mother Nature can do! What storm!
We took a ride to Nauset Beach the day before yesterday’s storm and were surprised to see this cement structure protruding from the sand. It looks like part of a septic system that has surfaced from the eroding beach. Does anyone have any other ideas?
You can see where the little viewing platform used to be in the top left of the photograph. That was taken down after the last big storm in January. Now there is just a little fence.
It will be interesting to see what the beach looks like in the next day or two. We are supposed to get 30 foot waves. Wow!
It is truly amazing what Mother Nature is capable of!
Years ago, there was a golf course where the Salt Pond Trail in Eastham is now located. There is a marker by the marsh identifying the roller for the golf course in the high grass. You can see it in photograph the on the right of the trail in the distance.
“Eastham’s Cedar Bank Links, a private course, was constructed in the mid 1920’s and existed until just after World War II. The course dominated the landscape that today is occupied by the Cape Cod National Seashore’s visitor’s center and the land surrounding Salt Pond. In fact, the parking lot of the visitor’s center sits where the ninth hole use to be. The 17th green was near where the boathouses stand today.”
Very cool, don’t you think?
