Erosion has dramatically altered this waterfront, washing away more than 200 feet of land in Captain Avery's front yard. It is said that the Avery family had to move the house back three times during the years they owned it, and the house's original location is now beneath the West River, where remains of the Averys' freshwater well have been found offshore. After severe storms caused great damage to the waterfront in 1927 and 1933, local residents brought in rocks to prevent further erosion of the shoreline. Captain Avery's grandson Erwood recalled that the West River had once been much more of a channel, with Cheston Point farther out in the river, and that when erosion opened it up, the river became much more dangerous.