THE DUXBURY BEACH HANDBOOK

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Welcome to Duxbury BeachHave you ever spent a day at the beach with the sand in your toes, splashing in the water, and discovering creatures that live there? If so, you know how special the beach is. It is probably a place you will remember for a long time. It is a place for you, your family and your friends.

Duxbury beach is there for you to enjoy, and it is also there for you to take care of. This book will help you learn more about the beach and how you can help to keep it safe from storms and as beautiful as it is today.

You need the beach, and the beach needs you!.

Preserve, protect, and treasure the beach!

Duxbury Beach Reservation, Inc.PO Box 2593, Duxbury MA 02331

www.duxburybeach.com

Duxbury Beach Reservation, Inc.PO Box 2593, Duxbury MA 02331

www.duxburybeach.com

About Duxbury BeachDuxbury Beach is a 6-mile long beach in Massachusetts. It stretches across three towns. The towns are Marshfield, Duxbury, and Plymouth.

The beach is home to many different plants and animals. Some of the animals are snowy owls, piping plovers, horseshoe crabs, and many oth-ers. The plants on the beach, such as beach grass and wild roses, help to protect the beach from washing away. All of the animals and plants on the beach can be hurt or damaged during big storms, so there are two groups of people who do everything they can to protect the beach. They are the Duxbury Beach Reservation and the Duxbury Beach Preservation Society.

Who Owns the Beach?The beach is owned by the Duxbury Beach Reservation, Inc. The town of Duxbury pays the Reservation money each year so the people of Duxbury can use and enjoy the beach.

Leave Only Footprints When you spend a day at the beach, it is important to leave nothing be-hind. No one wants to look at trash on the beach, and it can endanger the animals who live on the beach. When you leave the beach, make sure you take your trash, toys, and any other things you brought there.

Which would you rather leave at the beach?

Coast SweepEvery year, there is a day at the beach called Coast Sweep.Volunteer helpers come to the beach to clean up trash that has been left there or washed up.

Kids can help with Coast Sweep too. How much trash do youthink you’d find?

Duxbury Beach Discovery Cards

When you spend a day at the beach, it is important to know what animals live on the beach and in the water. Some of the animals that live there in-clude crabs, shellfish, periwinkles and barnacles. Can you find examples of these? How many kinds of crabs do you think you can find? There are fiddler, horseshoe and hermit crabs.

How many different kinds of shells? Can you find a razor clam shell or a quahog shell? Do you know what a skate egg case looks like? We hope that you come and explore the beach and learn about the many animals that call the beach home.

A Brief History of the Beach

In 1888, there were plans to build 268 cottages on Duxbury Beach. Luckily, that did not happen because a huge storm called the Portland Gale convinced the man who was going to build the houses that they would probably wash away in the next big storm. In 1919, a small group of summer residents formed the Duxbury Beach Association and bought the beach so they could keep it in a natural state to be enjoyed by all. That was almost 90 years ago!

Today, the beach is owned by The Duxbury Beach Reservation, Inc. The Reservation was formed from the original Duxbury Beach Association. It is a nonprofit corporation, which means that it is a business that doesn’t make money to pay employees or get rich. The purpose of the Reservation is to protect and preserve the beach and provide access to the public.

Every year the beach is damaged by harsh winter weather as well as major storms. Every spring, the storm fence needs to be repaired and beach grass needs to be planted to help keep the sand in place so that the beach doesn’t wash away. The public is invited every spring to help plant the beach grass. Maybe you were there!

Trash on the beach is another big problem, and in 1962 Duxbury had its first organized cleanup. Every September Duxbury Beach participates in the annual Coast Sweep, an event that takes place at beaches all along the shores of the United States. Volunteers collect the trash and record the types of debris they find. This information helps scientists identify the source of the debris so that they might be able to reduce the problem.

Taking care of the beach takes a lot of money. Some of the money comes from the town of Duxbury, which pays the Reservation rent to lease the beach. The Reservation needed much more money to repair the beach after big storms, so a subcommittee called the Duxbury Beach Preservation Society (DBPS) was formed. In addition to raising extra money, the Preservation Society works to tell people about the beach and how we can all help care for it.

So when you come back this summer, we hope you not only have a wonderful time splashing in the water and building castles, but also that you be careful not to step on any beach grass and that you pick up any cans or candy wrappers that you find. The Reservation thanks you for helping us take good care of beautiful Duxbury Beach.

Coloring Field Guide - Duxbury Beach

Other Interesting FactsDuring World War II, the U.S. Army came to Duxbury Beach to guard the coast. The soldiers dug trenches and carried out military drills on the beach.

The Powder Point Bridge was rebuilt in 1987 to look almost exactly like the original bridge that was built in 1895.

Before there were parking lots, people parked their cars on the bridge.

The beach is moving toward the mainland at a rate of approximately 1 foot per year.

In 1926, three houses on the High Pines part of the beach were floated across the bay on barges to a lane off Bay Road. The lane was named “Landing” Road, and the houses are still there!

In 1936, a steamroller was used to flatten the bridge after winter ice around the pilings caused the bridge to buckle!

Eight steel rods are buried 14 feet in the sand along the beach. Scientists use these rods to measure changes in the height and width of the beach every year.

The bridge was called Gurnet Bridge, Long Bridge, and Half Mile Bridge before it became known as the Powder Point Bridge.

The bridge originally had a section (called a “draw”) that could be raised to let tall sailboats pass under it. A sailor would tie up to the bridge, climb a ladder, raise the draw, and lower it down after getting his boat through.

It is believed that the Powder Point Bridge, at 2,200 feet long, is the longest wooden bridge in the world that cars can travel on.