Photographing An Island™ » Bluff Erosion

Documenting ‘Sconset Bluff

Sharon — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 15:32:41 +0000

Dirck and I returned to the bluff tonight to document the changes. The house at 97 Baxter Rd. is being moved. Previous shots from this locale are Here and Here.

Bluff House can’t be far behind as houses on both sides of it have now been moved. The jute bags have been extended from Twin Chimney to the houses north of it.

I have put together some large photographs for those who are interested. You can access the slideshow by clicking on the photograph above or CLICK HERE TO SEE SLIDESHOW

After spending some freezing time on the bluff, we went by Low Beach in time to catch a beautiful light and wave show. Hopefully, we will have a few of those to show you in the next day or so.

Sharon

Sconset Bluff Erosion Conditions – September 2010

Sharon — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:18:48 +0000

We had not visited the Sconset Bluff much during the summer, so we decided to take some reference photos of the bluff at the end of September before the return of winter’s nor’easters. Going below the bank before sunrise to catch the gentle light of morning, we were surprised to find additional destruction less from the Atlantic, but more from a prodigious amount of run-off from the top. Hundreds of rivulets of rain water have carved crevasses down the bank face, taking with them sand and soil. There are several places that have held their ground. Two stretches of jute tubes have been maintained winter and summer by Baxter Road home owners, and the bank behind them is much as it was through the storms of last season, although the ocean is making headway with flanking maneuvers at their ends. Another spot holding on is where a large clay deposit turns aside the waves without giving up much material from its bulk. Unfortunately a lot of the sand and soil from above has cascaded down around the block and will most likely leave it stranded in the future.

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Dirck is standing on the jute sandbags in the lower left corner of the picture. He is 6’2″, that should give you an idea of the height of the bluff at this point.

We made a slide show of larger photographs that you can see by clicking the link below.

Click to see Slideshow

Bluff Transitions

Sharon — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:43:09 +0000

‘Sconset Bluff Loses Another Home

Sharon — Mon, 10 May 2010 21:18:35 +0000

Eastmost, the century-old home at 85 Baxter Rd. is being moved to a safer place in Monomoy. This beautiful home has overlooked the Atlantic ocean with it’s place on the bluff since 1908.

Published in N Magazine

Sharon — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:26:03 +0000

N Magazine has a nice feature using our Sconset Bluff erosion photographs. We’re on pages 10, 11, and 12 and our photograph is used on the index page. Thanks to the N Magazine staff for doing such a great job!

Update on Swept Away

Sharon — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:37:28 +0000

The bluff house, Swept Away, is being moved now. Last week we had noticed more undercutting close to the house and tonight, we found the patio had finally fallen. It is being moved back 20 feet to allow for a little more time at this location.A house was lost on Smith’s Point due to the recent storms and beach erosion there.

Special Offer – Folio of our Latest Project

Sharon — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 00:11:09 +0000

We have a new fine art folio of our project, Questions of Privilege, about Nantucket’s ‘Sconset Bluff. The folio includes photographs of the southern end of the bluff which retains its gentle slopes and the northern end which has been ravaged by erosion this year. This project was photographed from October 18, 2009 to March 18, 2010 and includes 36 black and white images in a handcrafted folio cover. The folio is sized 11 inches by 8.5 inches. inches.

The folio edition prints are printed on Epson Exhibition Fiber paper, a heavy-weight art paper. Larger silver gelatin photographs are available individually from the projects page.

You will find the entire project here – Questions of Privilege.

‘Sconset Bluff Erosion Seen From ‘Sconset Beach

Sharon — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:10:28 +0000

Saturday, I returned to ‘Sconset beach. It was a beautiful sunny day. I waited for a period of low tide to make it safe to venture into this area of the beach as there is no way to quickly exit. I haven’t been down in this part of the beach for 9 days and I was amazed to see how much has fallen in that time. There was a great deal of top soil and clay that had fallen in large clumps and more of the mid-sections of the bluff have become sheer drops. One has to be extremely cautious as there are areas of the bluff that are unstable and there isn’t much room to get out of the way of a slide on the narrow beach.

While I was on the beach photographing, Dirck attended a seminar about erosion in the Nantucket and Cape Cod area given by Dr. Fred Ehrlich, Dr. Graham Giese, and Dr. Sarah Oktay.

I put this in a slide show form so you can see larger pictures than what the blog format allows.

Click here for the slide show

Below the Bluff on Sconset Beach

Sharon — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:40:54 +0000

We spent a few hours on Sconset Beach last evening when low tides allowed us access. You have to be as careful below the bluff as you are on top as there are large, unstable areas that are poised to fall.

Evening on Sconset Beach

Sharon — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:48:58 +0000

I went to the bluff again tonight. It was a beautiful evening with a light breeze, warm temperatures and a huge, orange sun low on the horizon. The water was clean – free of the sand and dirt that has been stirred up lately. I saw a whale blow a large burst of spray in the distance.

The beach was mostly clean on the southern end of the beach. There was a chest of drawers rolling in the surf.