Endangered Piping Plovers nest on Duxbury Beach - Beach closed to cars indefinitely 18 pairs of Piping Plovers have decided to make Duxbury Beach their home for the summer. Town government being what it is, the announcement that the birds' presence triggered state and Federal protection laws that are intended to limit human interaction with and damage to the Plovers and their habitat was handled in an inelegant, insensitive and blunderingly blunt fashion. Predictably, closing the beach for an indefinite time has created a human backlash of thunderstorm proportions. As the grandson of the woman who invented the Cape Cod National Seashore so that she, and all of us in her wake, could protect and enjoy birds, I am rather biased toward the birds' needs. Nevertheless, I do believe that a bit... 06/05/2013

Duxbury Beach, on an April afternoon.  The Gurnet Bridge is still under re-construction, so the only approach is from the Marshfield side, on Route 139. Well, unless you want to risk incurring the (friendly) wrath of the Harbormaster if he catches you crossing the construction zone. I took a few minutes, after viewing a lovely beach home on the Gurnet this afternoon, to walk in the sunshine. April has been cold and gray here, and the warmth of the sunshine took the edge off the chill that lingered in the steady onshore breeze. In town, the smell was of new mulch on many a lawn and garden. On the sand, the salty brine left its bracing tartness in my nose.    04/26/2013