Unless you live near the coast, it’s probably hard for you to imagine what our winter lives in the town of Ogunquit, Maine are really like…
Many people tend to think of Maine ‘summertime’ businesses in Perkins Cove as shuttered up and lifeless during the winter months. The truth is, some of those businesses are open year round – and even the ones that happen to be closed still have winter lives that most tourists never see. These businesses need winter maintenance, a large amount of work to prepare for their always-right-around-the-corner busy seasons, answering phone calls, returning emails, paying bills, executing deep cleaning projects, preparing annual marketing strategies, PLUS expending special attention to our physical locations during times of extreme weather.
That’s why I enjoy sharing a few of these off-season tidbits with my readers. I’m just doing my small part to shine a light on the hidden inner-workings and passion that, together with the summer lobster rolls, souvenirs, hotel room keys, ocean breezes, and timeless hospitality…all conspire to create that seamless notion of Vacationland you all know and love.
Here’s one such snapshot from today. Around 11:45PM on 3/2/18, during the peak of the second (and most powerful) high tide of Winter Storm Riley, I took a walk into Perkins Cove to see how some of my neighbors were weathering the storm.
The waves were MUCH larger than they were earlier in the day, uttering a constant background roar against the darkness of the night, grinding in seething rage towards the shoreline, then exploding in powerful and foamy displays of magnificence; splashing thousands of gallons of salt water, seaweed, stones, and other debris up onto the parking lot and thin spit of land where some of Ogunquit’s most cherished restaurants and shops are built.
Because the hour was approaching midnight, there were no sightseers around – just the dedicated team at Barnacle Billy’s, armed with shovels and other implements, working to keep the damaging storm waters out of their landmark restaurant. They stand sentry at the building all night – their feet drenched in a few inches of cold water. With each new wave of water across the parking lot, they work to clear the seaweed and Nor’Easter debris from the two storm drains out front of the restaurant before they clog up and the water is diverted toward the entrance doors. They’re thankful that the weather is mild for this time of year, and those same drains they are constantly working to keep clear aren’t blocked up with ice and snow.
They also keep a a watchful eye on the waters rising directly beneath their dining room floor.
Cathy Koppstein and Meg Tower – both part of the family who owns the waterfront restaurant – invite me inside their closed establishment to show me the three hatch tops in the floor that they had to unlock and rest above their openings, just in case the water in Perkins Cove actually rises high enough to enter the building. Meg shines a flashlight down into one of them, and we can see the water of the cove circulate approximately 8 inches below the floor…and it’s still rising.
Why do they have hatches to let the water in – when they are working so hard to keep the water out? In a worst case scenario, where the water rises higher than the floor of the restaurant, those hatch openings allow water in to release some of the upward buoyancy pressure and minimize damage from the potential of water actually lifting and/or moving the building.
Then conversation turns to storms of days long past…1978, 1991, the Mother’s Day Storm, and more. They even find a photo of laminated photos from prior storms, similar to this one, when the water and sea foam actually rose high enough to intrude into the dining room, requiring major clean up efforts.
A little later, I bid the entire Barnacle Billy’s team goodnight. I wish them the best of luck and walk back the short distance towards the Hartwell House Inn, all the while hearing the waves continuing to pummel the shoreline and the sound of aluminum shovels continuing to clear the steel drains. It’s going to be a long night.
At 4 in the morning, Cathy updates me on Facebook: ‘After you left, we had a surge under the building and all 3 hatch tops blew off and let water in. Nothing major fortunately.‘
Glad to hear it was nothing major.
So…next summer, when you’re in Ogunquit enjoying the water view, lobster, and steamers at Barnacle Billy’s; make sure to raise a glass of their famous rum punch (if you’re inclined) in honor of all of the passionate and resilient people who work hard year-round to make Ogunquit the beautiful place by the sea that holds such a special place in our hearts!
