The Trustees of Reservations finalized the purchase of the last private property on the Wasque Reservation on Chappaquiddick this past week.
The Trustees bought the parcel for $100,000 from Jerry and Elene Wacks, landowners with an address of Lexington, Mass. The purchase was finalized on Friday, July 14.
The acquisition expands the amount of publicly accessible shoreline at Wasque, though that access is currently limited by dune erosion caused previously by the breach.
“We are thankful for the chance to complete Wasque Reservation,” Darci Schofield, Islands director of the Trustees of Reservations said in a statement. “Wasque is a unique property that nature continues to reshape through storm events, strong tides, and sea-level rise. We look forward to welcoming the public to this new addition to the reservation, and to continuing to manage this unique, changing ecosystem that is home to remarkable and rare wildlife.”
The Wacks property is a 1- to 2-acre waterfront parcel that varies in size because of erosion and accretion from the breach at Norton Point Beach. As of March, the Trustees reports that the breach is moving east and sheltering the property, allowing the landmass to rebuild.
The Trustees say that the house was recently removed by the Wacks. The house had been built as a summer retreat by the family in 1984. But due to ongoing erosion, the Edgartown Conservation Commission recommended removing the house in 2013.
On the very eastern portion of Chappaquiddick, the Trustees says on its website that Wasque is in a constant state of change due to erosion.
“Windy conditions, grazing, and fires have kept forests from taking hold here,” the website reads. “It’s a place in a constant state of flux, where no two visits are ever quite the same.”
