Beach House, Spring 2024
This special issue of the Provincetown Independent nudges us into spring on Outer Cape Cod — into the landscape of beach plums and bees; into ceramicists' studios and artists' interiors and gardens; and off on a quest for beach houses where sun and wind inform design.
This special issue of the Provincetown Independent nudges us into spring on Outer Cape Cod — into the landscape of beach plums and bees; into ceramicists' studios and artists' interiors and gardens; and off on a quest for beach houses where sun and wind inform design.
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Provincetown Independent | BEACH / HOUSE | <strong>Spring</strong> <strong>2024</strong> | 13<br />
ers. “It’s a fall hot spot for migrating birds,” says<br />
Mark Faherty, Mass Audubon’s science coordinator<br />
for Cape Cod. “But the mile-plus-long hike along the<br />
sand from Nauset <strong>Beach</strong> parking lot keeps less hardy<br />
birders from visiting.”<br />
Though family members can row their guests<br />
over from Barley Neck, public visitors must hike over<br />
from the southern part of Nauset <strong>Beach</strong>, or they can<br />
approach by water in kayaks or canoes. “We just ask<br />
that they not use our family dock because it’s small<br />
and rickety,” says Barrington.<br />
Hikers must pay careful attention to tide charts<br />
since the marsh paths and small bridge are usable<br />
only at low tide, with many of the trails becoming<br />
deeply mucky in wet weather. Barrington recounts<br />
how she was trapped for eight hours on the island<br />
recently when she lost track of time and couldn’t get<br />
back over the bridge due to unusually high tides. As<br />
the dunes succumb to storms and erosion, the marsh<br />
has become even more prone to flooding.<br />
Among the houses, which remain private, the<br />
three-story New <strong>House</strong>, which Barrington shares<br />
with her two brothers and their families, is the architectural<br />
centerpiece of the island. Constructed primarily<br />
with wooden pegs, it seems frozen in time in<br />
charming and idiosyncratic ways. Height marks on a<br />
kitchen wall date back over a century. A hand-painted<br />
mural of a sailboat and other artworks hang among<br />
heirloom furniture and photographs of ancestors and<br />
the island still in its barren state.<br />
Modern conveniences barely exist. There’s no<br />
indoor plumbing, only a two-seater outhouse and<br />
composting toilet. Until recently there was no electricity,<br />
though now a generator and solar panels power<br />
two outlets and heat water for one faucet. After the<br />
hand-cranked well pump gave out, the family put in a<br />
new electric model. “You can’t get a pump for a well<br />
that’s not electric anymore,” says<br />
Barrington.<br />
“We don’t consider ourselves<br />
the owners of this place,” she says.<br />
“We’re just the stewards.” Barrington,<br />
a former computer programmer,<br />
learned so much about<br />
restoring the original windows in<br />
her house that she started her own<br />
business, Window Restoration Cape<br />
Cod, in 2015. “There’s nothing I<br />
like more than just sitting on the<br />
porch and looking over the meadow<br />
to the beach,” she says. “I was<br />
always a type A personality. I was<br />
always busy. Now I’ve learned to<br />
stop, because every day is different.<br />
At night it’s really dark; it’s quiet.<br />
You can hear the ocean and not<br />
anything else — except for the coyotes,<br />
of course.”<br />
For more information search “Pochet Island” on<br />
alltrails.com. Several local walking clubs and the Orleans<br />
Conservation Trust lead guided walks in the summer.<br />
Opposite page, clockwise from top left: An imposing brick and stone fireplace<br />
decorated with over a century of family memorabilia anchors the New <strong>House</strong> built<br />
in 1886. Nancy Barrington, her daughter Carol Crewdson, and a friend walk Pochet<br />
Island’s salt marsh trails at low tide. The three-story staircase in the house was<br />
made by a shipbuilder with pegs instead of nails. “Makes sense because of rust<br />
problems from the salt air,” explains Barrington. A painting of Baba, Barrington’s<br />
great-grandmother. Antiques, historic photographs, and family artwork fill the rooms.<br />
Chase Crewdson, Barrington’s son, rows guests over from Barley Neck.<br />
This page, clockwise from top: The New <strong>House</strong> sits in a broad meadow maintained by<br />
the family to fend off the establishment of invasive plants and trees. An artsy corner<br />
of Barrington’s house features painting supplies and photographs of her ancestors.<br />
Nancy, Chase, and Airy, the German shepherd, relax on the front steps. Heirlooms<br />
like a taxidermy owl and various binoculars and telescopes (to take advantage of the<br />
island’s dark night skies) sit on top of the piano. (Photos by Stephen Orr)