Coast Guard Beach:

Coast Guard Beach is a barrier beach that stretches south and protects the salt marsh from the open ocean, yet it is constantly being remade by wind, waves, storms, and nearshore currents. Sand eroded from cliffs to the north was carried south and deposited here, while beach grass and other plants only temporarily anchor it in place. The shoreline changes continuously, sometimes subtly and sometimes dramatically, as dunes build grain by grain and storms can cut new inlets within a single tidal cycle. Coast Guard Beach is eroding at an average rate of over three feet per year, with shoreline retreat visible between 1947, 1970, and 2014, and a single storm in 1978 washed away a 300-car parking lot and bathhouse. Rather than rebuild on the beach, the National Park Service moved parking inland and shuttles summer visitors, while the beach’s ability to adapt faces greater challenges from climate change, rising sea level, and intense storms.

Eastham, Massachusetts · United States