Over Thanksgiving break, I chose the beach off of Harding Lane (a small road about a six minute walk from my house), as my temporary phenology spot.
Although I have lived in my hometown of Marblehead Massachusetts for almost 14 years now, I was first introduced to Harding Lane by a friend during the summer of 2020. In a small ocean-side town, finding a quiet stretch of beach during the summer is typically pretty difficult, but somehow this spot remains somewhat of a hidden gem. (Partially due to the fact that half of the beach, most of the sandy part, is private property). The public half of the beach is extremely rocky, but if you time your visit just right, a stretch of public sandy beach becomes accessible when the tide is low. And, if you arrive when the water is at its lowest, you can walk straight to Brown’s island which is situated directly across from the end of Harding Lane.
Over the past few summers, Harding Lane has become one of my favorite places to sit and just let a few hours pass by, and I’ve spent countless hours swimming in the cove between Brown’s Island and the beach. I’ve taken all of my closest friends there, and many of my happiest memories have been spent there looking for hermit crabs and exploring tide pools. Even in the falls and winters when it was too cold to lay on the beach and tan, I would still walk down to the beach to listen to the waves crash on its shore.
Given my history with Harding Lane, I knew that although I would be extremely busy during my week home, I wanted to make time to go and visit. However, this proved more of a struggle than I had imagined, as within a day of arriving home I had almost completely booked out my week. By Thursday night I was beginning to panic, and at 8:40 pm I came to the somewhat silly conclusion that that was the perfect time to venture down to Harding Lane. Bundled up in multiple layers and wearing gloves (extremely rare for me), I made the trek down to the beach and perched on one of the stone walls that line the lane. From that vantage point I could see the beach, Brown’s Island, Grace Oliver’s beach (a little bit northeast of Harding Lane), and just the mouth of the Marblehead Harbor.
From that observation point, I took not of a few similarities and differences between Harding Lane and my phenology spot back in Burlington. Although both spots have water at their center, my spot back in VT is centered around a river rather than the ocean. The water at my VT phenology spot is much shallower and clearer than the saltwater at Harding lane, and while the river does have somewhat of a strong current, it’s nothing in comparison to the strength of the ocean’s tide. The waves are especially large and strong during the winter, and during my visit to Harding Lane the tide was also at its highest.
The composition of the riverbank at my VT phenology spot also differs significantly from the composition of the shoreline at Harding Lane. While the riverbank is primarily made up of dirt and woody debris, the shoreline at the beach is primarily composed of sand and rocks. This is probably a significant contributing factor to the difference in shoreline vegetation growth at my two phenology spots, and while trees and shrubs grow within a few inches of my VT spot’s river, there is no vegetation growing within at least 5-6 feet of the shoreline at Harding Lane. The vegetation itself is also very different at my two phenology spots. The primary species growing on Brown’s Island and along the path at Harding Lane are American Elms and White Oaks, while at my VT phenology spot the primary species are Eastern White Pines, Eastern Hemlock’s, and Green Ashes.
Besides all of the differences that I was able to observe directly, one major difference that I cannot observe but predict to be true is that the river at my VT phenology spot will most likely freeze over this winter while the ocean at Harding Lane most certainly will not.
I am extremely grateful that I was able to visit Harding Lane over Thanksgiving break and that this assignment forced me to be more intentional about the way that I observed this place that is already so special to me. Although I did not leave a gift at Harding Lane, I did polar plunge there the last morning of my break, a video of which I have included below!!! Until next time, Abby.
