had eroded back to the seawall and the toe of the revetment became the fixed
shoreline position. The beach immediately north of seawall construction exhibited
up to a 300-ft (92-m) retreat from 1989 to 1997. A tennis court adjacent to Claflin
Landing had been undermined by erosion and its former location is now the
present beach.
Chatham Lighthouse
Preinlet conditions along the beach in front of Chatham Lighthouse from
Holway Street to past the lighthouse included a 200-ft (61-m) wide beach with an
ebb-orientated ebb spit. This segment 3 shoreline also began to erode immediately
after the inlet opened, with the loss of some homes at the foot of Andrew
Hardings Lane. A rock revetment was constructed at the foot of Water Street in
the winter of 1987/1988. As the inlet opened, this beach segment continued to
erode moving the shoreline landward to the base of the cliff until 1992, when the
South Beach spit attached to the mainland (Figure 24). Then the shoreline on the
southern end of the segment began to grow seaward again as sand was deposited
on the beach as the South Beach attachment became larger. As of 1999 the shore-
line had moved seaward some 300 ft (92 m) relative to the 1992 maximum retreat
position. The north end of the segment from the south end of the large seawall at
Holway Street to the smaller rock revetment has experienced a landward retreat to
a maximum landward position in 1998. Around 25,000 cu yd (19,115 m3) of sand
was placed on this beach from the navigation channel dredging into Aunt Lydia's
Cove by the Town of Chatham in October 1998, May 1999 and October 1999.
This nourishment has moved the shoreline seaward again around 50 ft (15 m). A
rotational nodal point has developed in this segment around the small seawall at
the foot of Water Street, with the north end moving landward and the south end
moving seaward.
South Beach
The most significant change in shoreline position has occurred in the fourth
segment between Windmill Terrace and the dike to Morris Island. Preinlet condi-
tions had a narrow shoreline curving back to a small marina (Figure 25). As the
inlet opened up, some sand eroded from the mainland beach to the north was
transported to this area and the shoreline moved seaward. As the spit recurved
back from South Beach, sand detached from the spit and was added to the south
flood shoal, with some sand making it to the mainland shore in this area. As the
south flood shoal expanded in area and the South Beach spit grew, the tidal flow
into south Chatham Harbor became restricted to two channels and finally one
channel adjacent to the mainland. The south remnant shoal became attached to the
south flood shoal and the mainland shore as a spit in 1989. As a result the shore-
line moved seaward. The biggest change occurred when the South Beach spit
attached to the mainland in early 1992, effectively cutting off tidal flow to south
Chatham Harbor. The resulting land bridge joined the mainland shoreline to the
South Beach ocean shore. Overwash of this area resulted in expansion of this land
bridge, infilling the former south flood shoal with sediment. The South Beach
attachment to the mainland still has limited elevation, with some well established
39
Chapter 3 Inlet Throat, Shoreline, and Channel Evolution
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