Duxbury is undergoing an ambitious seawall replacement project. They are tearing down old seawall sections, digging huge trenches and pouring concrete for the new seawall.
The old wall went up in the 1950s. When it went up, it ended non-storm beach erosion for any ground west of the seawall. Many residents filled their yards in, bringing them up to level with the seawall.
All of the sand behind the wall would be buried, unmoving and essentially unexplored. Virgin sand, circa 1954. That's like, uhm, 70 years or something.
Your enjoyment of the photo above may be increased if you know that local legend claims that this yard supposedly has two Subarus buried in it. They were emergency fill after the Blizzard of '78.
Everyone involved in the project is dead now, so don't write up any warrants.
As you can see in the photo above, we have a great deal of sand that is unexplored. The sand in front of the seawall washes around, moving southward down the beach with the current. The sand below the surface moves less, but even that is somewhat volatile.
You have to get a shovel and dig pretty damn deep to find virgin sand in front of the seawall. This sounds difficult, but "difficult" is actually getting at the sand behind the seawall. You need a steam shovel to do that.
That sand hasn't moved since 1954. 1948, 1957, 1971, 1982 and 1993 are the years we need to ponder for this article.
In 17th century Duxbury, people would save bottles and refill them, just like everywhere else in America. You left yesterday's bottles out for the milkman, he took them and left you today's bottles.
This changed following the Industrial Revolution. Mass-produced bottles were cheaper, and people no longer needed to worry about returning them. It was cheaper for the stores, too, which is why "no deposit, no return" is an expression. For every person in America in 1910, 20 bottles were produced.
With no incentive to recycle, people just chucked bottles into the landfill... or out the car window, if a landfill wasn't handy. In that 1970s pollution commercial with the crying Sioux guy, he was crying because somebody chucked a bottle out the car window at him.
We did revert to recycling during WWII. Rationing made it necessary. Waste dropped into the single digits. That lasted until 1948. Your first aluminum cans, courtesy of the beer industry, arrived in 1957. This vastly lowered the amount of seaglass entering the biosphere.
Still, cans littering the landscape instead of bottles also leave a littered landscape. In 1971, Oregon instituted a bottle bill. Massachusetts followed suit in 1982. The consumer paid an extra tax, but gets the money back if they return the bottle.
In 1973, someone invented polyethylene bottles. By 1991, they were the most common beverage containers. The 70s also saw increased environmental awareness. Smashing a bottle on a beach would get you a laugh in 1930. It would get you a beating today.
The end result? Less sea glass.
Still, cans littering the landscape instead of bottles also leave a littered landscape. In 1971, Oregon instituted a bottle bill. Massachusetts followed suit in 1982. The consumer paid an extra tax, but gets the money back if they return the bottle.
In 1973, someone invented polyethylene bottles. By 1991, they were the most common beverage containers. The 70s also saw increased environmental awareness. Smashing a bottle on a beach would get you a laugh in 1930. It would get you a beating today.
The end result? Less sea glass.
When I was a kid in the 1970s, seaglass was easy to find. It is much more difficult now. I tell myself it is because my eyesight weakened as I grew to be 6'5", but I also wrote this article, so I know the real truth.
Fortunately, Duxbury is tearing down the seawall. They are exposing and displacing literal tons of sand. This sand has been untouched since 1954.
Duxbury Beach is just down the current some from the mouth of the Green Harbor River, and not that far the mouths of the North and South Rivers. It was (and is) a fine catch basin for seaglass.
Duxbury Beach still has lots of seaglass, but it is just buried under tons of shifting sand. I have no idea how deeply you would have to dig to get at the pre-recycling era sand.
However, seawall construction has turned over and exposed virgin 1954 sand. It has coughed up the goodies for the "treasure" hunter.
We remind our readers that you shouldn't go into someone's yard looking for seaglass, especially during a pandemic. We'd also actively recommend not f*cking around at construction sites which hold breathtaking buried-alive accident possibilities.
No, just walk the regular beach, near the seawall. You may be surprised at what you find.
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| Happy Hunting! |
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