Over in England, the U.K. Independent has picked up the story of a slow-motion disaster taking place about a mile from where I live.
Our living-room window looks west toward Cape Cod Bay from our piney hilltop, and from it we can see the house this article describes. (Nina and I used to call this precariously perched McMansion “the Ozymandias House”, for reasons that should become apparent as you read the story.)
Addendum: Back in 2008 I posted a story called “A Wellfleet Walk“, in which I illustrated, with photographs, a walk from my house, down our little dirt road, and out to the end of Chequessett Neck, on Cape Cod Bay, where the ill-fated mansion described above now awaits its doom. This was before the “Ozmandias House” was built, and as it happened I snapped a photo of the modest building that occupied the site back then. Here it was:
This little house had been there for ages, whereas the new one became uninhabitable after less than a decade. Hubris angers the gods.
6 Comments
Reminds me a little of NCs Outer Banks.
I enjoyed the Wellfleet Walk, but then felt a stab of sadness when I read the late Bob Koepp’s comment. As I recall, he died in February on Leap Day.
Looks like the attorney-owner is playing hardball, hoping the good citizens of Wellfleet will pony up at least part of the removal costs – a lesser evil than the insurance nightmare of the structure ploughing into the ocean and destroying a good part of the town’s livelihood. Good heavens.
Thanks all.
Robert, yes and no – the Cape, like the Outer Banks, is made almost entirely of sand, but it differs geologically in that it’s a “terminal moraine” left behind by the receding ice sheets after the last glaciation. More on that here.
Bill, yes, I always feel that same twinge of sadness when I look at an old post and see one of Bob’s comments. Life is short.
Jason, everybody in town has detested that house and everything about it since it was built. The people who built it hardly ever even used it; it was always just a vanity project (hence our nickname for it). This ugly final chapter fits the rest of the story perfectly.
Like Bill, I also enjoyed the Wellfleet Walk, but in my case for nostalgic reasons. Over forty years ago, my late wife and I rented a house on the Outer Cape, near Orleans, for a month, and I recall that we spent several wonderful mornings walking the trails around Great Island. I have some photos of those long gone days that I still cherish. I have not been back since, but I imagine that area, much of which is protected, is still largely unspoiled.
Hi Vito,
Yes, those trails are still just as you remember them. They’re one of the things I love the most about living in Wellfleet.