MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME! MARSHFIELD!

CHAPTER 6
“MY HOME AWAY FROM HOME.”

Christy Moore once said that everybody deserves a break. And every summer, I’ve gone down to Marshfield. A small beach town with a big heart. Our first cottage was on Foster Avenue, which faces the beach. Every morning, the sun rises out of the Atlantic Ocean and brings another great summer day to our family. A few years later, we’d move to the cottage that we occupy today at 22 9th. Road, just a little ways from the beach.
And we still have a great view of the sunrise. Unless of course, there’s wind and rain on the beach. And then we see the waves whip up with the whitecaps ready to strike the sand. The summer is a short season down there. Although summer officially begins on Memorial Day, down in Marshfield, it doesn’t begin until the Night Before The Fourth. That’s the night when they set off firecrackers on the beach. The humidity and the cool of the night make for an explosive cocktail of color and patriotism.
Up until the mid-1980s, there would also be bonfires on our beach. All the trash and timber of the winter would be rushed up the beach and piled onto towering pyramids at each entrance to Sunrise Beach(where I’ve been living all through my now about 50 years). At sunset, lighter fluid would be doused on the piles and they would be set aflame! It was wonderful; combining bonfires with fireworks made it a fantastic night!
I remember that I would stay up late to enjoy the action(in 1976, I stayed up all night and was exhausted the next day, the Glorious Fourth). And in a few instances, I’d get up before sunrise and try to pick the beer bottles and cans that I treasured getting money for at the liquor store. (Unfortunately, I had to contend with those goddamned mosquitoes, who come out at dusk and dawn on the beach area. Ouch!)
Unfortunately, sometime in the 1980s, the bonfires were responsible for a number of house fires on the road. As a result, the Marshfield Town Meeting passed an ordinance saying that it was illegal to light fires on the beach without a special permit. And in 1988, the bonfires were cracked down and all but ended.
When my Dad was on his deathbed on his last Fourth of July in 1988, Mom went down to see what was going on there, and, to her shock, she caught the cops trying to arrest one of my cousins for setting up a bonfire on the beach. She nearly got arrested herself when she tried to intervene on his behalf, saying that her brother was a lawyer and would stop them in any possible way.
3 weeks later, when my Dad died, we had to come back up here for the funeral, and boy was it raining. I’ll get to that in a little while, though. But back to the bonfire habit, it attracted the wrong kind of people; folks who didn’t live in the beach area drove from miles to watch them. And they’d bring dozens of six packs of beer, wine and alcohol. There’d be fist fights and wild parties that went on until 2 or 3 in the morning(maybe later). No wonder there were a lot of arrests at that time.
Since the end of the bonfires, the celebrations have become more subdued, yet are still festive. It’s more than a family affair now, with everyone enjoying that special night when summer really comes alive. Of course, the cops are still patrolling the beach on the 3rd. and the 4th. to see that no one gets out of hand.
Still, I miss the bonfires. They were a very special part of the Night Before the Fourth.
(And you know what? I used to make about $50 to $60 picking up empties and brining them back to the liquor store. Now, I’m lucky to make $20 to $30 on the Fourth.)
You know, I enjoy the time I’m down at the Beach. From the Night before the Fourth to Labor Day Night, it’s one big party with beach time during the day and parties at night. But when the sun goes down on Labor Day night, everyone packs up and heads home. The rest of Marshfield continues in business during the winter, but the beach area becomes deserted and austere. After all, we never know on Labor Day night what will happen in the year to come…or whether we’ll see our friends or neighbors again.
I always say that during the last two weeks of summer, the long hot days and steamy nights become a precious commodity. So why can’t it be like summer all year ‘round? I had a dream one night that everybody was down the beach for New Year’s Eve shooting off fireworks and lighting bonfires. And the weather was that of a warm summer night….
Ah, Summer in New England. It’s such a fleeting time.