LETTERS

Thanks to Friends of the Cliff Walk

Staff Writer
Portsmouth Herald

To the Editor: 

I am writing in support of the Friends of the Cliff Walk and to thank them for their tireless efforts to document the history and public access to the ocean from the Harbor Beach to Cow Beach and beyond. I also want to give my sincere thanks to the Board of Selectmen and especially to York voters who have given the Friends overwhelming support at the polls and at their sponsored events.

I would like to share my experiences along the Cliff Walk over the past 53 years. I first walked it in the spring of 1962. It was a well-worn, rustic path stretching out from Harbor Beach to a point we now know as the Gerrity estate. From there it continued, over the rocks in some places, all the way to Cow Beach on Roaring Rock Road. Our summer home was on Norwood Farms Road so we reached the Walk by way of the existing sewer easement off Milbury Lane. This right-of-way was wider than it is now and wide open to the Cliff Walk, where we could turn right to go to Harbor Beach or left to reach Cow Beach. Sometimes, I parked my ‘64 Mustang convertible at the top of the right-of-way, and left it there until our walk was finished.

In 1988, Martha my new wife at the time, and I enjoyed several walks in this manner always using the same area to park our car as I no longer lived on Norwood Farms Road.

We often met very friendly people on the walk and sometimes spoke to various land owners along the way. Most notably, I remember Milt Peterson in his hammock on the point in front of his ocean-front house, and we usually exchanged brief pleasantries as we passed his property. Sometime in the early 90’s Martha and I thanked him while on the 18th tee at York Golf & Tennis Club for his maintenance efforts and the repairs he sometimes made after storms damaged part of the pathway.

Today time has taken away some of our ability to walk parts of the Cliff Walk, but we still visit and enjoy the views it offers; it has something for all ages. We are disappointed that the pathway is blocked by fences, and we no longer have full access to the whole walk. 

York is a very special place and the Cliff Walk is a very special part of the town’s heritage and appeal. It offers the public a chance to share the wonderful views that the area offers and that otherwise are unavailable to local residents and their guests.

Gary Green 

Estero, Fla.