On Shaky Ground, Oldest North Beach Camp Awaits Uncertain Future
by Alan Pollock

            CHATHAM — Nearly a month after a severe coastal storm plucked it from its foundation and moved it across the dunes, the Harriss camp—arguably the oldest building on North Beach—still faces an uncertain future.

            With several months of coastal storms still ahead, and the barrier beach left vulnerable by erosion, time may be running out for the camp.  The owners, Donald Harriss and his nephew, Peter, are waiting to find out whether the storm damage is covered by their insurance policy.

            “We’re waiting for final word from FEMA,” Donald Harriss said.  “Until then, it’s wait and see.”

            The Nov. 3 storm destroyed the southernmost camp on that stretch of North Beach still connected to the mainland.  “Driftwood,” the camp owned by Russell Broad, was broken in pieces and scattered along the shoreline for several miles before a contractor removed the debris on Nov. 12.  The storm also lifted the Harriss Camp from its piling foundation and moved it between 20 and 60 feet from its former location, ripping off the garage and the kitchen.

            Town officials have not ordered the Harriss’ to remove the camp, since it poses no imminent hazard to navigation, as the Broad camp did. 

            “But they want us to do something about it one way or another,” Peter Harriss said.  But until the insurance claim is acted upon, Harriss said his family isn’t touching the property, for fear of damaging the claim.

            As of Tuesday, Building Commissioner Kevin McDonald had not yet visited the camp, but was mulling a trip later in the week.  In an interview with the Chronicle shortly after the storm, he doubted the camp could be salvaged.  But the town has taken no steps to force the Harriss’ to remove the building, partly because of the outstanding insurance claim and partly because the owners are among four sets of owners scheduled to go before the Conservation Commission this week, seeking permission to raise their camps on pilings.

            Plans to raise the four camps—including ones owned by William Hammatt;  James and Robin Fitzgerald and Stephen and Laura Peach; and John Shea—have been in the works for several years.  The owners are seeking to raise the camps to an elevation of 15.1 feet, placing them on pilings that allow the shifting sand and flood waters to pass underneath.

            Approximately one half-acre of the formerly 3.5-acre Harriss property remains after the Nov. 3 storm, but the remaining land includes the high dune where the owners had planned to relocate the camp.  Peter Harriss said doing so might still be feasible.

            “The house is pretty sound.  It needs work, obviously, but we hate to destroy something so old with so much tradition out there,” he said.  The storm moved the camp quite a distance, “but things in the house weren’t even broken.”  Oil lamps on the shelf remained upright, as did plates in a cupboard, he said.

            Though the family removed many of their belongings from the camp before the storm, a number of furnishings and sentimental items are missing, presumably taken by scavengers on the beach.

            Though its exact date of construction isn’t clear, the camp is believed to be more than 100 years old.  There is no record of the camp until 1920, but former owner John Harriss obtained affidavits from Chester A. Eldredge and Benjamin O. Eldredge in 1956, stating that the camp was in existence as early as 1885, having been built on the site of the old Coast Guard Station Number 12.

            According to “Drifting Memories: The Nauset Beach Camps on Cape Cod,” by Frances L. Higgins, the camp was damaged in the 1978 storm, which ripped off the garage and destroyed the contents.  The camp was rebuilt, but was flooded again during high tides the following year. 

            Donald Harriss had his honeymoon on the camp and regularly brought their six  children down. 

            “And now the children all make sure—they live all over the country—they all come back during August.  It’s the common place that brings them all together,” he said.  Without the camp, he said he’s not sure what will bring the family together.

            “My attitude, quite frankly, is, I’m 80 years old and I’ve had my run.  Let’s get it out of the way,” he said.  “But that’s not really fair.”  Though he could live with having the camp demolished, his children are hoping it can be saved, Donald Harriss said.  And when he thinks of summer evenings at the camp, he understands.

            “When you sit down on the back with a Manhattan and a grandchild on your lap, and you watch the sun go down over the bay, there’s nothing on the other side that matches it,” he said.

            Peter Harriss said he hopes the insurance claim will be approved shortly, and his family could seek permission to move the house to a more secure location, shoring it up temporarily for the winter.  “And then, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

11/29/07