Not a lot changes on Cuttyhunk – which is one of the things that we love most about the island. But if you haven’t visited for a few years there have been some significant improvements, and more to come.
At the marina, you’ll find some new docks for small boats and resident dinghies, as well as a new seating area to enjoy the view. Portions of the fish dock have been widened, and there are now grill stands to accommodate boaters’ portable grills.
More significant, perhaps, is the replacement of the Cuttyhunk pump out boat with a new, permanent pump out station at the fuel dock. Installed in cooperation with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, the facility ends boaters’ reliance upon the sporadic and limited boat service and ensures full-time access to waste disposal. This is a self-service facility and free of charge.
Still to come is the completion of an ambitious effort to protect Cuttyhunk’s open space from development and keep it open for the public to enjoy forever. The Cuttyhunk Conservation Project will place 67 acres of Cuttyhunk’s extraordinary natural landscape under permanent protection. This includes the land atop Bayberry Hill and Haps Hill (also known as Lookout Hill), the highest points on the island and an important rainwater recharge area for the town’s public drinking water wells. Along the shoreline, the project will protect Canapitsit Neck (also known as Barges Beach), Church’s Beach, and Copicut Neck. These lands will be managed by the Buzzards Bay Coalition and preserved for public access, ensuring they remain open to the hiking, birdwatching, swimming, and fishing that is such a treasured part of island life.
The Coalition is also working with the island’s Spaulding family to preserve their land on Cuttyhunk’s West End, a stretch of untouched shoreline and three coastal ponds. In keeping with the family’s longstanding wishes, the family has decided to protect the land under a permanent conservation restriction held by the Coalition. This will mean the land remains privately owned, but that development on it will be permanently limited.
So, if you haven’t visited in a while, maybe this is the summer to put Cuttyhunk on your cruising itinerary. For information and reservations, you can contact the Harbor Master by phone at (508) 990-7578, or on line at www.dockwa.com/explore/destination/cuttyhunk-marina.
