Changing Coastline

Moving a Dune Shack

Unique to the Dune Shacks is a close knit social network that has allowed for the shacks to be moved according to a customary approach versus a standard approach, which are two approaches termed by Robert Wolfe in his ethnography Dwelling in the dunes: traditional use of the Dune Shacks of the Peaked Hill Bars historic district, Cape Cod. A standard approach is the predominant way most homes are moved and involves a formal process, “guided by formal agency rules and standard operating procedures, at times involving contractors and federal, state, and municipal entities.”[i] A customary approach is defined as an approach that utilizes “personalized labor relations, small-scale technologies, and well-matched materials, with economic factors (labor, equipment, and materials) frequently donated, bartered, found, or acquired through informal economic arrangements.”[ii] These two approaches are not mutually exclusive since there are community members that can work within both systems depending on how the job is contracted.

Customary approaches to moving, support the informal economy and strengthen community bonds by relying on local expertise and know-how to accomplish the task. It is often the most economical and fastest way to move a building, as evidenced by Isaacson-Schecter shack, which was lifted using a customary approach. The project cost roughly $90,000 less than was estimated if they had used a standard approach. Instead the project cost only $15,000 and “employed networks or friends, in-kind reciprocity, loaned equipment, and gratis local expertise.” [iii] Customary approaches are a system for moving homes that should be explored further as an option for other homeowners on the Cape who are looking to move their homes, by pursuing a more community oriented model.

Unburying Peg Watson’s Shack

As contrasted to homes that must be moved because of erosion, the Dune Shacks are situated in one of the few places along the shoreline that is actually accreting instead of receding.  For this reason, more frequently then having to move a Dune Shack, it has to be unburied from encroaching sand as was the case with Peg Watson’s shack.

The encroaching wet sand, in addition to threatening to bury the shack, caused three of the posts that were holding up the shack to rot completely through and the sand had infiltrated through the sub floor, causing the finish floor to rise, jamming the door. To save the shack, a crew of volunteers from the Peaked Hill Trust were mobilized to try and lift the shack onto new, higher posts because “we felt that raising the shack a small amount would give enough room for the dune to spread out and remove the worst threat of re-burial”[iv], writes Will Hapgood, a member of the Trust. Lifting the shack was a group effort that required the coordination of about 15 volunteers, bringing together different community expertise.

Our friends and Peaked Hill volunteers, all resourceful, energizer bunnies, have helped to “re-locate” huge amounts of sand, build a sand wall, place some temporary blocking stations as we removed the current posts that hold up the shack AND set our first 350 lb. post with perfection.[v]

With the help of these volunteers, they were able to accomplish one the of the most labor intensive tasks: digging out enough surrounding sand to be able to get to the posts to raise them. The process of raising the house was one conceived of in part by Bill Fitts, a long time Provincetown resident. Fitts drafted several diagrams depicting different strategies of how the shack could be lifted. The final method is depicted in the image below and involved:

four hydraulic jacks, and informal cribbing placed on sand, we raised the shack slowly, stopping about every foot to re-position the cribbing. After raising the shack 29” we bolted the beams to the posts. We left the four corner posts long, so that if next year the shack needs to be raised again, it would not be necessary to re-install new posts.[vi]

When moving or lifting a shack it is conceived of in terms of the possibility of having to repeat the process at some point. The same is true for many homes that have had to be moved on the Cape. Looking at the historical records for many Cape homes, it is not uncommon to find that it has already been moved three or four times from its originally built location. Small improvements are generally made each time a major restoration project of this nature happens. Being a National Seashore structure, changes to the shacks should be small scale improvements rather than significant add-ons or expansions, all of which can only be done with National Seashore approval. Hapgood responds to this in his letter, stating that the deck remained similar in size and composition even though it was rebuilt and explains why the installation of a ramp was necessary.

The deck was re-built, re-using the old deck planks and railings, but using new posts and joists. The deck is very close to the same size and configuration as it was; the deck planks were not changed or cut, simply re-applied. Because of the height change, we built a ramp for access (previously the deck was at sand level; stairs did exist from earlier eras, but have been buried in the sand for some time).[vii]

In assessing whether the lifting of Peg Watson’s shack was done according to a customary or standard approach I found that it was an example of the convergence of these two approaches. It employed the communal labor of Dune Shack dwellers and was done at a low cost, yet it utilized donated cribbing to support the shack, from Mike Winkler’s crane company, which carries out various contracted standard approach moves the majority of the time. Because of the cooperation within the close social network of the Cape, my assumption is that more hybridized examples of moving and lifting occur than customary approaches.

Now that the shack has been lifted it has been given a few more years hopefully before it may need to be moved or lifted again and can be enjoyed by various members of the Peaked Hill Trust who can win a week long residency in one of the shacks via a lottery system. The trust makes it possible for artists, writers and Dune Shack enthusiasts to continue to be able to spend time in the backshore in these rustic shacks that have been an important part of the artistic and cultural heritage of Provincetown.

Learning to live in this landscape and utilize simple technologies to manage the dune environment is one of the most valuable lessons that can be learned from the Dune Shack community. As Giese, suggests, “the Dune Shack society might be viewed as an instructive, ongoing demonstration of compatible human-nature relationships with potential lessons for coastal dune ecologists”.¹⁰ Dune Shack residents propagates alternative examples of living in this environment while being simultaneously more flexibly and secure because of the ease with which they can respond to coastal change.

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[i] Wolfe, Robert James. Dwelling in the Dunes: Traditional Use of the Dune Shacks of the Peaked Hill Bars Historic District, Cape Cod. Wellfleet, Mass: National Park Service], 2005. Pg. 236.

[ii] Wolfe, Robert James. Dwelling in the Dunes: Traditional Use of the Dune Shacks of the Peaked Hill Bars Historic District, Cape Cod. Wellfleet, Mass: National Park Service], 2005. Pg. 236.

[iii] Wolfe, Robert James. Dwelling in the Dunes: Traditional Use of the Dune Shacks of the Peaked Hill Bars Historic District, Cape Cod. Wellfleet, Mass: National Park Service], 2005. Pg. 243.

[iv] Hapgood, Will. Letter to Hatty Fitts. 15 Sept. 2004. MS.

[v] Isaacson, Gary, and Laurie Schecter. “Here’s a real update on PEG.” Message to Julie Schecter, Carl Bucholt, Annie Dillard, et all. 24 July 2004. E-mail.

[vi] Hapgood, Will. Letter to Hatty Fitts. 15 Sept. 2004. MS.

[vii] Hapgood, Will. Letter to Hatty Fitts. 15 Sept. 2004. MS.