Menemsha’s eastern jetty may underlie Crab Corner, based on information provided by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager Craig Martin — a revelation that could further complicate use and management of the site.
A group comprised mostly of parents have signed an online petition to have the popular wading area reopened, while town leaders are keeping it closed for fear of electrical hazards in the water.
Crab Corner sits between the town’s transient dock and the eastern Menemsha jetty. The angled granite sides of the jetty run deep below what’s observable above the sand and water lines of the structure, Mr. Martin said. Though he declined to say so specifically, engineering facts and ratios Mr. Martin provided to The Times indicate that jetty’s massive blocks continue their slope below part of Crab Corner’s modest beach, and may rest under most of it. Mr. Martin did say that he doesn’t believe the base of the eastern jetty extends below the transient dock on the far side of Crab Corner, approximately 30 feet away. If Crab Corner rests over the jetty base, part or all of it would be considered a portion of federal property or the federal project, as Mr. Martin termed it.
Anything above the footprint of the jetty, he said, is considered part of the federal project. Such a reality could undermine Chilmark’s ability to regulate use of the popular, and now fenced-off, children’s wading and crabbing spot. Alteration of the jetty requires evaluation by the Corps through a special permit application, Mr. Martin said. This would include fencing extending from the jetty or over the jetty, he said. However, management of such things wasn’t handled by his division but by the regulatory division of the Corps, he said.
Chilmark placed snow fence at the mouth of Crab Corner in July after children experienced shocks and tingles there from waterborne current. The source of the voltage continues to elude the town. The suspected cause was remedied July 13, but Chilmark’s inspector of wires reported detecting more marine voltage by Crab Corner this month. Town officials also worry that children who enjoy Crab Corner are under threat from the propellers of boats tied up to the nearby transient dock, and have debated using more substantial fencing in the area to separate children from visiting vessels.
Menemsha has two jetties: a west jetty in Aquinnah, and a larger east jetty in Chilmark — the jetty adjacent to Crab Corner. The two jetties armor the Menemsha inlet and keep it fixed between them. In their absence, the inlet would meander along the shore and shoal, according to Mr. Martin. The Corps acquired the jetties from the commonwealth in 1945, and has repaired them several times since, but never surveyed their foundations. Mr. Martin was unsure how far they extend below Menemsha’s sands. A 2015 renovation revealed only part of the jetties’ depths, he noted.
“At the lowest low tide, there’s still 10 [feet] of water in the channel, and then the jetties extend below that,” he said. “So you’re talking below low water, you’re talking … probably 15 feet below mean low-level water. So they’re pretty big structures. A lot of folks don’t see most of the structures. It’s kind of like an iceberg — you see just the top of it.”
Corps New England District spokesman Tim Dugan likened the shape of the jetties to pyramids, albeit flat-topped ones. The breadth of the eastern jetty’s footprint is not known, Mr. Martin said, but borings could locate the edge of the structure’s stone base and provide an answer. He estimated that the breadth of the east jetty bottom was “probably in excess of 50 or 60 feet wide.” But he declined to comment on whether or not this would mean Crab Corner was federal property, or what that might mean for Chilmark’s governance of the area.
Reached by telephone last week, selectmen Jim Malkin, the board’s liaison to the harbor, declined to speculate on the ramifications of Crab Corner potentially belonging to the Army Corps of Engineers. However, he pointed out that changes the Corps made to jetty stonework years ago led to the buildup of sand at Crab Corner, therefore transforming it into a mini-beach. So much sand washes in there, he said, it must be periodically cleaned out with a backhoe to prevent overaccumulation.