Swampscott Stories

Swampscott Signs of Summer: Main Float In and Big Flag Up

Two sure-fire signs of summer arose on the Swampscott landscape this week.

  Here is a look at two spring rituals that signal summer will soon arrive in Swampscott. On Thursday, the Swampscott firefighters raised the town's large summer flag on the Monument Avenue flagpole. Molly Conner of the Swampscott Historical Society captured the flag raising in a series of crisp and colorful photographs. The photos bring into focus Swampscott landmarks: the flagpole, Monument Avenue and its line of monuments and First Church in Swampscott. All against a spectacular blue sky. On Friday morning at another Swampscott landmark, Fisherman's Beach, DPW crews moved the main float from its winter resting spot in the parking lot to its summer home at the end of the pier. The remaining floats will be moved from the lot to the pier's…

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Putting Swampscott to Bed For Winter

On Wednesday a DPW crew on Monument Avenue wrapped the town boxwoods that spell Swampscott. It's a fall ritual, one of several the town carries out before winter.

A silt fence shrouds the town boxwoods. The wooden floats that creaked and bobbed at the end of the town pier now sit in the Fisherman's Beach parking lot. Soon DPW crews will flush water from irrigation pipes at Lower Jackson field. They'll hitch heavy yellow plows to trucks. Winter is around the corner. The fence, float removals and line flushing prepare for the cold season, protecting the shrubs, landings and fields for next year. On Wednesday, Dave Gustavsen raised a 5-pound sledge. Tree warden Gene Gardiner held the fence and a wooden stake. The crew moved counterclockwise. They unfurled silt fence and pounded stakes to shelter the boxwoods from cold salty air, snow and ice. The shrubs are pruned to spell S-W-A-M-P-S-C-O-T-T. For the …

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Floats Pulled for Winter

A Department of Public Works crew hauled the landings out Thursday. The six floats sit stacked in a corner of the parking lot at Fisherman's Beach.

A DPW crew pulled floats from the town pier Thursday, marking the end of another boating season at Fisherman's Beach. The crew took advantage of extremely high water — almost 12 feet. They had the floats hauled to the parking lot and stacked in their corner by mid-afternoon, a few hours after the 11:45 am high tide, DPW Director Gino Cresta said. The crew detached the bobbing and creaking floats, hand-towed them to the boat ramp and chained them to a front loader for a ride to the corner. The director wanted the landings out before the weekend. Stormy weather is predicted. This was their second time out of the harbor in 2011. The first was the end of August before Hurricane Irene struck.  Even so, other heavy weather and wear have worn the…

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Sea Notes: Stories on the Swampscott Waterfront

SCRAPBOOK: Irene Chases Floats Off the Water

DPW workers pulled the floats from the pier's end today but will return them early in the week, depending on the weather.

DPW workers pulled the floats from the pier's end today but will return them early in the week, depending on the weather. DPW heavy equipment operator Paul Plourde said the crew pulled the pier floats to protect them and the pier from damage in the upcoming storm. Boaters use the floats as a landing to board and step off boats. DPW waited to remove them until Saturday when it looked like all the boats that were coming out of the water had done so. DPW Director Gino Cresta said the floats would be returned to the pier's end early in the week and remain there until the season's end, likely mid-October.

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