Sea Glass/Garbage in Maine? (Portland, Brooks: houses, living, military)

[saintsvalentine]

Hi, I used to live in Salem, MA and would visit different harbors and beaches on the north shore and look for old garbage that's in the water. Things like old pottery, porcelain, glass, and other objects that pre-date the 1950s. I've even found very old pipes and musket balls, victorian objects, dishware.

I'm wondering if anyone knows if sea garbage like this exists in the waters on the coast of Maine? This was a favorite hobby of mine, and i'd like to know if i can do this in Maine.

Thanks!

[Abbymoulton]

Originally Posted by saintsvalentine

Hi, I used to live in Salem, MA and would visit different harbors and beaches on the north shore and look for old garbage that's in the water. Things like old pottery, porcelain, glass, and other objects that pre-date the 1950s. I've even found very old pipes and musket balls, victorian objects, dishware.

I'm wondering if anyone knows if sea garbage like this exists in the waters on the coast of Maine? This was a favorite hobby of mine, and i'd like to know if i can do this in Maine.

Thanks!

Yes!!! Sea glass is wonderful fun to find in the waters along the coast of Maine. We used to have a huge collection of it.

[CapeCodder]

We called it "beach combing" on the Cape. I used to do it as a kid...I loved to find sea glass and "treasures". So much is made out of plastic I wonder if there's as much sea glass around.
More often we found suglasses...beach blankets...shoes...or usually just one shoe.

I'm sure there's still some good stuff to be found on the shores.

Now I prefer tidal pools and going "critter hunting"...which is basically just finding little crabs and small fish with the nieces and nephews.

[saintsvalentine]

Oh, wow -- thanks! It's a weird hobby I know, but i find it thrilling to find lost objects. I've even found small doll heads that looked *quite* old on pickering wharf in salem.
you're not really supposed to take those things, it's federal property, but i hate to think of lost treasures (even if it's just old garbage) just sitting in the muck.

[McMar]

Saintsvalentine, you're cleaning the beach. To you those items are worth treasuring. Others may just throw them away. It's better for you to take them and give them a good home. It's not like you're altering the environment by removing anything alive. Capecodder, I'm glad you mentioned the tide pools. I'm not trying to go off-topic here, but I find tidal pools to be a living treasure. Being a child in San Diego, my absolute favorite memories are of the tide pools out there. Any input on the best tide pool areas in Maine?

[bignhfamily]

Growing up, my Grandfather owned a home on the ocean on our tiny NH coast. We grandkids spent a good portion of every summer there collecting treasures and saving sea glass in a huge glass vase he had.

When he passed away in 1995 we had a reception at the beach house and everybody went out and combed the beach for sea glass. These last pieces topped the vase off. Now it sits proudly at my mum's house.

My kids have started filling their own glass jar. There collection has pieces of sea glass from Baja CA, San Diego, both sides of Florida, NC, SC, GA, here in NH and of course Maine.

When beach combing in NH and ME, I used to look forward to finding horseshoe crabs. Haven't seen one in years though.

[AustinB]

Come to the Bagaduce River in Brooksville and the Salt Pond in Brooklin and you will find horseshoe crabs, but not alot of sea glass.

[CapeCodder]

Originally Posted by bignhfamily

Growing up, my Grandfather owned a home on the ocean on our tiny NH coast. We grandkids spent a good portion of every summer there collecting treasures and saving sea glass in a huge glass vase he had.

When he passed away in 1995 we had a reception at the beach house and everybody went out and combed the beach for sea glass. These last pieces topped the vase off. Now it sits proudly at my mum's house.

My kids have started filling their own glass jar. There collection has pieces of sea glass from Baja CA, San Diego, both sides of Florida, NC, SC, GA, here in NH and of course Maine.

When beach combing in NH and ME, I used to look forward to finding horseshoe crabs. Haven't seen one in years though.

What a meaningful vase that your mum has. What a good idea.

A few years ago at West Dennis beach I saw them during mating season (I'm sure there's a different name for it). There were dozens all clumped together in groups. I had a friend visiting from Oklahoma...so I picked one up and showed her. She was PETRIFIED of it. It never dawned on me how scary looking they must be to someone who had never seen one. I still laugh about it...and she's still terrified!

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

I absolutely LOVE beach combing. When I was a child, we did that alot along the East coast from Maine down to Cape Cod.

I have looked alot here in Florida and never found any sea glass but it might be I am not looking in the right places.

My dream someday is to have a metal detector that can be taken into the water. I will be permanently bent over in the position to be looking for things in the sand.

I did read that someone was in the process of writing a book about where there are good beaches to find sea glass.

I also heard about a beach in California that was once a dump for a military base there about 100 years ago, they find alot of cool stuff there now.

[saintsvalentine]

Portland is an old port town, correct? What are some other historic port towns? These are often the places where you find antique trash in the water.

Didn't Hermann Melville live in Maine? I think he went to Bowdoin (spelling?), but did he live there all his life?

In MA, there are several "ghost towns," like Dogtown in Glouchester and others that were abandoned when the Quabin resevoir was built. Some like to go metal detecting there. Are there places like that in Maine? I also like to photograph old abandoned houses, buildings, historic ruins.. is there much of this there as well?