Could everyone write one simple essay about something that once happened in Saltaire…that they saw or were a part of…and put it on one big website? Somebody should collect a lot of stories before we all forget. Otherwise it is like a line in “On The Beach” : The history of the war that now would never be written.” -(JO'H)

Thursday, February 12, 2009

A Dream Within a Dream


I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

----Edgar Allan Poe










February 2009
Saltaire Village Website
So what will disappear without a trace first: this sand or the TARP money?


2 comments:

cosmo said...

Did anyone ever notice that the dunes in the National Wilderness area east of Watch Hill have long had the largest and most sustainable dunes on the Island? It's only the beach in the developed part of the Island that needs beach replenisment. Could it be that houses and driving on the beach could be the cause of beach erosion?

Anonymous said...

Good point, COSMO. One would think that the east end of Fire Island should have a lack of sand because of the various beach interventions farther east in the Hamptons. Are you talking about primary dunes closest to the beach, or secondary dunes?

Doew anyone wanna do a photo essay of that part of Fire Island? There is a a great hike from Smith Point Park westward. Great panoramic views.

By the way, if you wanna see where all the sand is going, take a trip to Breezy Point in Queens. It seems like the beach there is a mile wide. Whereas Saltaire lost its ocean prom 70 years ago, the Breezy Beach has widened enough for a dozen Ocean Proms. It is a long walk from the font row of houses to the surf at the Irish Riviera.

Also: perhaps the best secondary dunes and swale on Long Island are nearby on the the Rockaway Penninsula: go to Fort Tilden National Recreation area and you would think you were in Sunken Forest in 1950.