My Beach, Not Your Beach

All it takes is one afternoon on a private beach to ruin public beaches for you for the rest of your life. Not having to fight for towel space with chain-smoking teenagers makes the fact that there's no life guard on duty menial. Never mind the glorious privacy. The Island has some of the world's most lovely, pristine shorelines—and much of it is private or town owned, meaning that if you're lucky enough to own a $500K beach lot, or live in a town with its own beach, you're really, really lucky.

There are Massachusetts state laws that say that private property extends only to the mean low water mark, at which time the property becomes that of the Commonwealth and therefore, open to anyone. Chapter 91 of the Massachusetts General Laws preserves the public's right to "fish, fowl, and navigate" waters of the commonwealth, including lands in the intertidal zone (between the high and mean low water marks), even if it is privately owned.

A visting lawyer friend once had a bit of an issue with a Lucy Vincent beach guard when she tried to tell him that, by law he couldn't keep her from passing the Lucy Vincent property line if she was walking in the water. (Chilmark happens to be the only municipality in the commonwealth that issues resident-only beach access walk-on permit cards.) Turns out, the guard was right, however: Lucy Vincent and Squibnocket are actually privately owned lands that has been leased to the town— unlike Menemsha beach, which is public.  In order to comply with the terms of the lease, the town has to limit access to residents only.

But what about those who don't live in Chilmark or West Tisbury, and so Lucy Vincent and Lambert's Cove are out of the question? Does living in Tisbury mean you are stuck at State Beach, even if you live on the Tisbury town side of the Lambert's Cove Road?

Doesn't it seem more fair that those who live here year round should be able to get parking passes to whichever beaches they feel like driving to? How would you feel should the Island Card be considered an all access walk-on pass? Should those who have access to any and all beaches not locked behind gates from September through May suddenly be told that my beach is not your your beach anymore?