East Beach ~ Barrier Beach

Physical Characteristics

What is the Charlestown Breachway?

East Beach and Charlestown Beach were separated by a breachway. East Beach, the barrier beach, was naturally broken, or breached, and reformed an average of seven times a year. With development along the pond in the 1600s and 1700s, if the barrier beach was not breached by a certain time of the year, it would be manually opened (see history of breachway). In 1952, the breachway became permanent. It was dredged to a depth of 3 feet and a width of 120 feet and two stone jetties were extended into the Sound from the breach. Putting in the permanent breachway changed the coastal environment around the breach. The stone jetties created a rocky intertidal zone. (Information about that type of coastal environment can be found at the Rocky Intertidal> Page).