New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
The terrible beauty of living on the shore
Rather than spend most of our time in cars, trains, enclosed offices or traveling to different places far from us as we all did in a preCOVID-19 world, many of us are sequestered into self-awareness. There is one special reality of New England (and especially Connecticut) that determined how those who settled here lived, and that is changing, again.
Our homes reflect our values, and how the coast has been valued (or not) has meant that living on the water has had a roller coaster of worth since the Civil War.
There are over 500 miles of ocean coastline in New England. Of course, more than half of Connecticut’s 96 miles of coast is actually on Long Island Sound, but it is salt water. Where we live determines how we live. So the coastal New Englander is unique compared to those looking for their missing flip-flop in Florida.
Of course, 400 years ago those coming to New England had no choice but to live on the coast. Those already here would live off the water’s edge, in safer places, but use the sea’s bounty for food. Colonists were tied to the water for transportation, so for the first generation or two of settlers, colonists were the human barnacles on New England’s shore, gaining materials and more colonists from ocean-going travel.
Soon rivers drew people
north, and the invading colonists spread, but towns grew on New England’s coast, yet judiciously distinct from the ravages of direct exposure to the sea. Some places had to be directly in the face of the ravages of the coast, but coastal living for most meant offshore, inland by a bit, as living on the shore itself was dangerous.
Storms rage up from the south along New England’s coast. Huge explosions of water and wind regularly wrecked beaches, docks and homes. Convenient locations for commerce or cost often meant living in the lowlands of New England’s coasts for those who had no other choice.
The term “Swamp Yankee” was born. Thought to be the first home of freed indentured servants, or those returning from colonial wars against the French and native population, the common denominator was poor, so the poorest people lived in the worst place to live because it was the cheapest.
That meant living on or near the coast, and the swamps it made, and the lowlands the ocean regularly flooded. Since those who lived in the places could only afford the cheapest construction, resistance to the extreme weather was minimal and buildings were cobbled up and blown away for 200 years along New England’s coasts.
But beauty has a way of attracting and sustaining humans. As building technology made better buildings cheaper, the lure of the sea made more and more coastal New England places desirable for those seeking a second home, away from the Industrial Revolution.
The desire to breathe the sea air, maybe swim in its waters, or just gaze at its beauty overcame the cost and care needed to overcome the volatility of the weather. Hurricanes continually target the coast. Nor’easters damaged homes every year, the unrelenting sun degraded almost every material, and the poor soil made foundations, septic systems, even potable water costs to be dealt with.
As the desire to live by the sea overwhelmed cheaper alternatives, the 20th century saw insurance companies create a cushion for risk (at a cost). Municipalities saw the sewers and city water could generate tax income via increased property taxes as more could be built by the water. Soon the state and federal government sought to make a dangerous location less socially hazardous as building codes were created, tightened then extended into every aspect of construction along the coast.
All these increased costs and effort only happened because we wanted to live by the sea.
Now, this decade, it is clear things are changing, again. The coastline is changing because the sea is rising because the Earth is warming and the ice caps are melting. The weather is getting more severe, with harsher storms more often. Insurance is harder to find, and if you have a mortgage, coverage is necessary to own a home.
As we all sit at home more, it is impossible not to think about our homes. Where we want to live is keyed to how we want to live, and what we can pay to connect those two realities. The “Swamp Yankee” who stretched and saved and rebuilt and accommodated a dangerous place to live may be coming to be a mindset of the future.
Those who love the ocean enough to live there may be fewer in number as the costs increase and the uncertainties explode in a changing world. The worst land to live upon became the best place to live, and now...?