The Lightkeeper's Blog

May into June means gardens.

I have written about wanting to memorialize Ruth and George Downton with a garden. That is now in place. Signage will follow that describes their contributions (only John Cushman spent more time here) with notes on the the building of Lighthouse Park and the October 1991 storm that undid so much of it.

Followers on Instagram and Facebook have seen some of these photographs as two new gardens were installed along the walkways from the parking lot to the Cottage. Thanks goes out to David Ball and to Northern Oak Landscaping for their role in removing the old weed catching bushes and allowing room for the new perennials to take their place.

These plants were purchased with the support of the Scituate Beautification Committee and the mulch delivery was arranged by its chair Mary Tennaro who is the caretaker for the memorial garden just out of the photograph on the left.

The boardwalk was installed at the end of May. Lots of weekends were spoken for but I managed to clear one out after chaperoning the Prom to wrestle it into place. This installation was the easiest to date with the wind and the weather on my side from the start on Saturday morning to the finish on Sunday noon. Thanks go out to Totman Enterprises for leveling the beach so perfectly. It is a smooth ride for the baby carriages, the joggers, the bikes, the wheel chairs, and the electric scooters.

I do wish fewer people would set up beach chairs on it though. That is not what it was built to do.

Tuesday the Select Board will sign a contract with a project manner for the restoration of the Light. Funds become available on July 1 for the work. Currently there are no plans to open the Lighthouse to tours until the work is complete.

The banners and the signs for the Edgerton Bell and for the Etrusco stone offer visitors a good deal of information. I have also added a QR code to a banner that links to this blog.

The numbers of guests is becoming harder and harder to measure. At 8:30 last night there were 150 people in view from the kitchen window. Right now there are 25 cars in the parking lot. While it hasn’t been noisy at night, I can testify to finding lots of beer cans in the trash barrels, and even a full, unopened, bottle of wine. Pizza boxes fill up a barrel very quickly and nips are ever present. Summer is a mixed bag that way.

A box of books has been placed at the end of the driveway once again as the math tells me that I can’t read all that I have. My Take It, Don’t Leave It box has been working as designed and one hope is that the sheer numbers that come here will do their part and take some books home to a new shelf.

Provided that it doesn’t turn off very dry here, Cedar Point will be green for some time to come. It will be even better if there is regular rain and the additional benefit to rain is quiet nights with far less traffic. School is out in 11 days and I have gone two complete years without missing a day. That is a good feeling after having been knocked back at the end of the 2019-2020 year. I would love a summer to recharge and not have to head out each night to chase people off or quiet people down.