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  • Writer's pictureDon Wilding

Seaside storm stories of Nauset, Chatham


It's been a week since the storm known as "Winter Storm Riley" (I prefer the "March 2018 Northeaster" myself) powered its way over Cape Cod, but the effects are still being felt -- and might be for some time to come.

On Friday (March 9), the house just north of Nauset Light, which had been flirting with disaster for time now, was finally demolished. One more bad storm, and over the edge it would have gone. I linked to a photo in my last blog post; here's one that was posted Friday by Ellen Watters Sullivan on the Eastham Community Space Facebook page.

Above are photos that I took of the house a week prior to demolition (left) and the house as seen from the beach in January 2017. Peter Marteka of The Hartford Courant tweeted out photos of the house last Saturday.

Moving south to Liam's Snack Shack at Nauset Beach in Orleans, the fate of the legendary onion ring eatery is set to be decided (so we're told) on Monday, March 12, at 5:30 p.m. at Orleans Town Hall, 19 School Rd., Orleans. Here's The Cape Codder's story about Liam's. Photographer Danya Mahota also has an outstanding photo and video.

Meanwhile, the Nauset Beach gazebo was spared from the surf on Friday when it was moved back into the parking lot. According to the Orleans Police Department: "“Once the dolly wheels were attached, the gazebo was wheeled up Beach Road to the former Beachside Motel. Special thanks to Jimmy Reynolds and volunteers Devin Reynolds and Justin Reis for making this look simple and saving a piece of Orleans history!!”

The news department at CapeCod.com provided a nice view of the ocean from the gazebo on Tbursday, the day before it was moved back.

Finally, there's been a lot of questions about the shipwreck remains that washed ashore on the southern point of Chatham's North Beach. According to Randy Saul of the Chatham's Three Breaks Facebook page, the wreck, rumored to be those of the Montclair, isn't the schooner that met its tragic end in 1927, "but another ship that’s older with mostly wooden pegs.”

In a separate message to Wilding's Cape Cod, Saul explained: "That other wreck not only has wooden pegs but it has a lot of bronze pegs on it too. No iron to be found on the North Beach Island wreck.”

Whether it's the Montclair or not, be sure to check out the drone footage from Christopher Seufert for a gull's eye view of the wreck.

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