Dockton

Another shoreline with a complex 19th and 20th century history, mainly involving boats and boatyards, the remains of which can be found on this beach and on to the northwest. This appears to have originally been a small stream mouth, marsh, and low-energy beach. Wave energy is low, but sufficient to maintain a beach of medium gravel among the riprap, historic artifacts, and remnant marsh exposed on the shore (the presence of marsh on the beach face is due to the low wave energy, the presence of eroded marsh soil at beach grade, and probably the abundance of freshwater seepage). This may have begun as a small barrier beach with a back-barrier marsh, or more likely, a low, freshwater wetland, with a narrow beach across it's eroding front. Or a combination of both.

The park itself consists of a parking lot and boat ramp, along with a concrete seawall behind the minimal remaining beach. In the 1970s, we pumped state money into building parking lots on the beach - the better to sit in your car and watch the birds with your engine running. The stream itself emerges from a pipe near low tide. To the west, there's a chance to remove fill and riprap, rebuild a wetland and barrier beach, capture the upland drainage and create a stream mouth, and add some historic interpretation and recreational benefits as well.