User:Eggishorn/sandbox/Sippican Harbor

Sippican Harbor is a natural harbor and inlet on the northwest coast of Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts within the boundaries of the town of Marion. From prehistory to the present, humans have used this body of water as a food resource, industrial location, and recreational venue.

History
The Native Americans of Southeastern Massachusetts were the first people to utilize the resources of Sippican Harbor. The Wampanoag people gathered shellfish and fished in Buzzard's Bay and its inlets and some of their descendents claim the right to continue such fishing today. Archaeological remnants of quahogs, anadromous fish and other remains have been found on Little Neck at the head of the harbor. This was also the location of the first permanent European settlement in the area in 1678 when 29 Pilgrim families moved the 20 or so miles from Plymouth Plantation in the aftermath of King Phillip's War.

By the colonial era, Sippican Harbor became the site of extensive saltworks. Seawater from the harbor was pumped into shallow pans erected on the shoreline and either boiled off via wood fires or left to evaporate in the sun. Ships from the harbor were used extensively in the coastal salt trade.

After ___, salt production declined. The harbor was then used as a site for shipbuilding, particularly for the New England whaling trade. Many whaling ships began their voyages from Sippican Harbor and whaling captains brought wealth to the town.

Whaling declined in the late 19th century, and had stopped altogether by 19__. Other trade also slowed, to be replaced by vacationers. By 19__, summer visitors were coming to the area for sailing, fishing and bathing in Sippican Harbor. Notable visitors from this time include President Grover Cleveland and future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Cleveland spent __ summers from __ to __ in the area, and enjoyed fishing in the harbor from a small dinghy he would row himself. [http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/19990215/NEWS/302159993}

In the summers of 1925 and 1926, Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to Marion to recover from his paralytic illness in the care of Dr. William McDonald who had devised a treatment regimen intended to restore some function to polio victims' limbs. McDonald included regular swimming exercises in Sippican Harbor's waters as part of Roosevelt's regimen and the future President believed that the swimming was beneficial. Roosevelt in fact maintained a swimming and water exercise regimen for the rest of his life to cope with his paralysis. During these treatments, Roosevelt promised McDonald that the doctor would be the first official visitor to the White House once Roosevelt became President.

Roosevelt would later return make the harbor his starting point for a well-publicized post-polio sailing trip he made with the yacht Amberjack II to Campobello Island.

In the post-WWII era, the harbor is primarily used for recreational activities.

Geology
Like Cape Cod and the larger Buzzards Bay, the geology of the harbor is dominated by glacial influences. The Laurentide Ice Sheet formed the Buzzards Bay and Sandwich morraines, forming the east and southern limits of the bay. As the ice sheet retreated, it formed Glacial Lake Cape Cod and outwash plains. Drainage from this lake and directly from the ice sheet formed outwash plains, dominated by sand and gravel sediments. This drainage and a process called spring sapping (where the head of a valley is cut further and further backwards by each spring thaw) cut valleys through these sediments. Sippican Harbor is a relict valley of these processes. See https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70017557 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0169555X9490068X https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2014/1220/ofr2014-1220-title_page.html and https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/capecod/glacial.html and http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/53/8/1127 and http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/czm/program-areas/seafloor-and-habitat-mapping/publications/ and http://buzzardsbay.org/geo8-06/w1c-05.pdf http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/student/martin1/laurentide.html https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/capecod/index.html

Geography
Sippican Harbor is oriented along an northwest/southeast axis, with Little Neck at the head of the harbor and the mouth at the southeastern end between Converse Point and Butler Point. Bird Island sits between these points at the mouth of the harbor supporting Bird Island Light and a large tern colony.

Despite the similar names, Sippican River does not discharge into Sippican Harbor. Discharges in the harbor are through surface runoff, tidal creeks and saltmarshes along the less-developed sections of shoreline, especially at the northwestern limit of the harbor.

Endangered Species
Bird Island is an important bird colony. It is the larger of two area islands that host half of North America's breeding pairs of the endangered Roseate terns (Sterna dougallii). Bird Island is now a protected location which allows no human activity except for approved researchers and restoration efforts under the National Estuary Program and Superfund have lead to increasing numbers.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts lists the Northern diamondback terrapin (Malacletnys terrapin) as state-endangered, and the shores of Sippican Harbor are an important nesting site for these turtles. Genetic studies of this population show low levels of genetic diversity, raising concerns for the long-term viability of the population within Massachusetts.

Like many other locations in coastal Massachusetts, the area covered by common eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds has been reduced. Eelgrass beds are of vital ecological and economic importance and provide a habitat for fish (including juvenile cod (Gadus morhua)), a substrate for shellfish, a crucial component of sediment and shoreline stabilization. Bodies of water with a reduction or loss of eelgrass beds show a reduction in both the number of fish and shellfish and in the diversity of marine species.

Maritime Activity
Sippican Harbor is currently the home port for the SSV Tabor Boy, the sail training ship of Tabor Academy. This schooner began life over 100 years ago as pilot boat in the North Sea and was the subject of a PBS documentary: Tabor Boy: 100 Years at Sea. The harbor is also the starting point for the biennial Marion-to-Bermuda sailing race held in odd-numbered years. The race is an amateur offshore racing event to the island of Bermuda, a distance of 645 nmi. The most recent race was held starting June 9, 2017.