WGBH • November 21, 2022
Both Maine and Massachusetts live under similar Colonial-era laws allowing private ownership of beachfront property to extend all the way down to the low-tide line, severely limiting public access to the intertidal area of the coastline. But while Massachusetts has not acquired any new coastal beaches since 1990, state agencies and land trusts in Maine have pushed back against privatization, acquiring more than a dozen beaches over the last four years alone and mandating they be open to all members of the public. Maine has also helped some of its coastal communities research historic deeds and identify public access rights to the coastline. In the 1990s, Massachusetts launched a similar program but soon abandoned it.