Winter may officially be over, but the frozen ground and recent storms make it feel far from spring. It’s been an especially difficult season for residents on Plum Island. Thanks in part to a low tide, yesterday’s snow didn’t cause serious problems. But the impact of previous storms is still taking a serious toll.
The beaches on Plum Island are closed to the public, but there is still a lot of activity along the shoreline. Heavy machinery hurls boulders in front of several seaside properties to create a barrier from the sea.
“We are out here doing our best to save our homes,” said Steve Batchelder. “And it’s something that I always felt that we all had a right to do, whether it’s on barrier beach like this or whether it’s on a tree shaded street downtown.
The Department of Environmental Protection says the rocks do more harm than good — that they redirect waves toward other homes and interfere with natural dune formation. The agency sent a letter to residents urging them to stop now or be forced to remove the boulders later. But after an especially trying year, homeowners like Batchelder feel they have no choice.
“I’ve never seen four major storms in one season — let alone in a less than a three month span,” Batchelder said. He bought his seaside cottage in 1992 and has vacationed on Plum Island with his family ever since. But the rough winter weather has left his house uninhabitable.
“The December 28th storm was significant. We lost half of our deck during that one,” Batchelder explained. “The blizzard in early February took the other half of the deck off. We had a subsequent storm in between there — albeit not that substantial. And the one we had on the 8th and 9th of March was just devastating.”
That storm wore away a corner of Batchelder’s foundation, but he still feels lucky — beating waves completely destroyed the homes next door. One house collapsed into the surf. The other was so badly damaged it had to be demolished. Newbury Building Commissioner Sam Joslin made that difficult call.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said.
In all, six families lost their homes this month. Four of them were torn down last week. And while some of those residents are making plans to rebuild, others simply don’t see the point.
“You lose your house in a fire, but you still have the land to build on,” Joslin explained. “Here the problem is you’re losing the land to build on and the home itself.”
As for Batchelder’s neighbors — one wants to rebuild. The other is cutting his losses and moving across country. Batchelder and his wife plan to invest in repairs to the deck and foundation, and they hope to vacation here again this summer. But he knows that may not always be an option.
“There’s going to be a time when it’s just not going to make sense,” he admitted. “Financially, emotionally, everything … If we lost the house, it’s conceivable that we would just built a platform, go get an Abercrombie and Kent tent, have a place to park and there’s summer at the beach.”
For now, though, Batchelder said he will continue to fight for his property. He hopes to add to 21 years of family memories made on Plum Island.
“Those memories are lifelong memories. And if it comes to an end, it comes to an end,” Batchelder said. “I just want to be able to hopefully pass it on as a legacy to my children, so that their children can experience what they did.”
