bay days

[whippoorbill]

Whip
Is anyone at all left on the beach side strip shown in the first photo?How about anyone at all?The last time I was there there seemed to be hangers on on the left as you pulled up to the beach and then the people way off to the righ whose driveway is next to the owl tree.Is the state going to force people to leave?Are they buying the properties of those who left or are they just setting back and letting the bay take it and making them take a loss?
Al

No one remains on the beach side-strip (Beach Avenue) shown in the first photo. The state bought these folks out. I'm sure the entire strip is presently under the jurisdiction of the DEP. On the main drag into town there remains at least one residence in use. As of a few weeks ago there were three. One of these residents I met (details in post #110), but he was burning up his personal belongings in his back yard and hinted at moving out soon. He claimed the vandals taking care of business on Beach Ave were also helping themselves to his property and belongings, and that he'd had enough. The folks that have the private drive access from the east of town leading to the houses further north, which you inquired about, are still there. This beach doesn't seem to suffer from the same level of serious erosion as does the strip area. If the state no longer maintains the Sea Breeze access road, Schoolhouse Lane, through the marsh, where it floods during most high tides, I can see the north folks also abandoning ship soon. Possibility of access will surely be denied by Mother Nature. (These properties and their "private" access road have always been and remain heavily posted with No Trespassing signs.)

I don't think the state forced anybody to leave. The resident I spoke to said he'd "turned down the deal," but he was located a few hundred feet off-bay. The folks on the strip had no hope of protection without a continuous, losing, expensive battle at the expense of taxpayers.

Yet, there is still a board-posting attached to one of the houses on the strip; its wording blames the state for abandoning the community. A no-win situation.

 

[manumuskin]

While I feel for those losing their properties I certainly don't feel it's the rest of our responsibilities to keep fighting rising sea levels for their benefit.Just like all those communities on our barrier islands.Those were never meant to be built on.They make a jetty to replenish sand and on the other side it eats it away even faster.Those islands were meant to move and offshore sandbars to replace them.One day they will accessing the AC casionos by boat and helicopter.I can't wait.I was 12 years old when they started gambling in AC and was PO'ed then knowing even at that young age that they meant more people moving in and tearing up more woods.Look how much of Ocean county they turned into residential areas before the pineland comission halted the runaway expansion.I know I'm ranting and I know you work in AC but seriously if I'm here long enough I won't be sorry to see it go and with it much incentive to tear up the Barrens.
Alfie

 

[whippoorbill]

more shootin' the breeze

 

[manumuskin]

Avirgin still left in Sea BreezeNever woulda believed it...and look,she forgot her TUMS!

 

[glowordz]

It's a good thing you're doing, Whip, recording these sights. Each time is different, and each time you find interesting details to share. I like the textures in this set: alligatored glass, grained wood, pebbled plaster, and a dozen more I can't properly describe.

Most lovely: the octagonal window, looking out at rippling grasses.

Most mysterious: the last shot, a somber house with the suggestion of light in one window, framed by dark trees and the brooding sea beyond.

Most touching: the gray-on-white, next to last. It reminds me of the pencil sketches in a child's history book, fragile with distance. There's an inexorable sadness about it, as if Sea Breeze has already been reduced to a memory.

I wonder what effect the coastal storms will have . . .

Glo

 

[whippoorbill]

 

[bobpbx]

I like the second one Bill. I can hear the buzz of time as I look through the screen of brush at the shack.

I spent the last 5 weeks in Dallas and northwestern Louisiana (Piney Hill Country they call it). A photographer's paradise if their forte is shacks, inhabited or not. Some of those still inhabited were much worse than those abandoned.

 

[manumuskin]

The second pic down is the shack I gave coords to earlier in the thread.by the aerials it appears to have been built between 40 and 53.the cellar holes neareby were already residences in 31 and appear to have fallen down after 63 and before 72. the other house posted I have no idea when it was built or abandoned.two chimneys one at each end are still up but one chimney was lying on the ground broken into sections at the northen edge of the house.maybe surrounded by an outbuilding at one time?

 

[glowordz]

Sea Breeze under snow seems to put on its best face. The trees and branches and snow-swept seawall are especially beautiful.

The last two photos are remarkable!

I’m surprised that Minnette allowed you to see her, Whip, much less take her picture. You must have whipped out that camera in a flash.

Rumor has it (she didn’t tell me this part) that she and her owner’s family used to live on the Montclaire homestead. It’s near the big brown ruin in photo #4.

Because her owner was sickly, the family moved into the brown-shingled house at Sea Breeze, hoping that the bracing sea air and lovely views would be healthful.

Minnette told me that the first time she walked along that beach, she vowed she would stay forever.

As we all know, the sad day came in which the family had to pack up and leave, and many tears were shed when Minnette was nowhere to be found.

She must have discovered a hiding place in that house. I would never ask, of course, but I wonder where it is.

Thank you, Whip! Perhaps on your next visit, you will persuade Minnette to talk to you. Oh, the stories she could tell!

Glo

 

[whippoorbill]

Sea Breeze under snow seems to put on its best face. The trees and branches and snow-swept seawall are especially beautiful...

I’m surprised that Minnette allowed you to see her, Whip, much less take her picture...

Perhaps on your next visit, you will persuade Minnette to talk to you. Oh, the stories she could tell!

Glo

She whispered something in my ear as I passed this time, Gloria. Minnette offered her thoughts about having a story to share, and added that you would be the perfect person to put it in words for all to sea ...

 

[whippoorbill]

My wife (no, that's not Alfie) and our dog joined me for a brisk Tuesday walk along the bay in Sea Breeze.

It relaxes me when I look at the photographs from my trips to the bay, then again as I attempt to recreate these in a way that match the mood of the day.

outside of town

inside

low tide

 

[manumuskin]

Me and Pea were there a few days ago.The bulkhead appears to be fairly new and in good shape.I have no idea why they gave up on the place ,many of the houses are still in very good condition except for damage done by vandals.What was the concern here?The road in?They appear to have been holding off the bay successfully.I guess the bay circled around and caught em in the rear?
Alfie

 

[whippoorbill]

Me and Pea were there a few days ago.The bulkhead appears to be fairly new and in good shape.I have no idea why they gave up on the place ,many of the houses are still in very good condition except for damage done by vandals.What was the concern here?The road in?They appear to have been holding off the bay successfully.I guess the bay circled around and caught em in the rear?
Alfie

The seawall is badly damaged, Alfie. In some places it has completely collapsed (as evidenced in several photos). One can see where erosion resulting from the bay churning beneath the entire wall will lead to its imminent total collapse. The bulkhead had been in place a year (hardly) when it started revealing structural flaws. (I've read somewhere that not enough understructure support was planned for in the designing of the wall.)

I suspect the road in was of concern, but not the main issue at hand when the we've-done-all-we-can-do decision was made.

 

[manumuskin]

are the people that live just past the private road before you get to the beach strip out now too?When me and pea were there last month people were parked at a house on the left across from the small house on right with porch sofa.a few days ago no one was there.would like to know what the statys is of the houses up the private road.
Alfie
ps
went walking up a trail off of school house road and found a nice vernal swamp i was telling you about and a real nice peninsula of high ground with open beech and holly woods reminiscent of the Bear swamp but trees not as large.trail takes you to edge of marsh but no view due to high reeds.

 

[Bachman's Ivory]

Wonderful feel and photos, Bill, you have a unique style, it really shows. Hope to bump into you out there some day. We'll shoot the Breeze. PUN!!!

 

[whippoorbill]

Sorry. But if I don't do these all at once, when the day is still warm, they'd never get done.

I'd promised myself to not shoot a photo during my trip to Sea Breeze today. My intention was to sit down there in the solitude and read the final pages of a wonderful book. Next time I'll know better to leave my camera at home.

Wish I could lay some music I carried with me today as a backdrop to these. This would be an ignored but freakin' gorgeous choral piece composed by a Danish guy named Joep Franssens. I made the mistake and let my kids listen to the same this evening while picking them up after an athletic event. I was ridiculed. My oldest said, "Dad. That sounds like music for somebody that's almost dead. Not quite." Had to smile. How about for a waning bay-side community?

Thanks for looking.

 

[oji]

Bill, I'm glad you made the mistake of taking your camera along. I have never been to Sea Breeze but I have visited the place many times!

 

[glowordz]

I'm thinking that a book will wait, but this disintegration continues its funereal progress.

It seems that even Minnette has left, but perhaps she will surprise you some day by appearing once again.

Each time, you capture something of note, and each time, you balance the despairing rubble with vistas of shore and sea. The next-to-last photo is a prime example.

I especially like the shots taken through translucent filters and small openings such as doors and windows. Perhaps they reflect our own veiled and narrow perspectives on life.

Thank you, Whip, for going back!

Glo

 

[manumuskin]

found three beautiful new islands today,the last one covered in green lichen with a large two entrance snake den
and a sign that said we'll be out to play in three or four weeks.Heard one very cold peeper singin for his sweet thang at 39 degrees.
Alfie

 

[LARGO]

I see this place, read the particulars, see all the wonderful photos, and still just don't believe it.
I refuse to actually.
Most of this little community just looks like a turn key away from waking right up.
It is actually disturbing, as though you can still hear the voices of the folks walking away after leaving the front door open and just saying "so long".
Like something off the set of some "B" movie about the world moving on.
It is actually the wizardry of all you photo dudes that brings this to life. Many thanks, disturbed or not.

g.