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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)

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