For years, decades, centuries, maybe millennia and perhaps even eons, generations of diamond-backed terrapins have arrived and returned to the shores of Hammetts Cove in Marion to mate and lay their eggs, just as their ancestors before them did, forever imprinted with the place of their birth, the place where they themselves will nest to bring forth the next generation of terrapins into the world.
Enter humans onto the scene in 1998 with the development and inhabitation of the development known as The Cove. Sandy, dry, upland vegetated areas that had forever been occupied by clutches of terrapin eggs were suddenly gone, filled in with housing foundations, covered by gravel walkways, paved with asphalt, and replaced with rows of sod and bark mulched flower beds.
Diamond-backed terrapins face this fate all along the coastline from New England south to Florida as terrapin habitats are converted into housing developments, threatening the very existence of the terrapins. The population was nearly eliminated by the turn of the 20th century, having been considered a gourmet delicacy, ultimately landing terrapins on the threatened species list in Massachusetts.
In 2015, residents of Jenney Lane – concerned about terrapins they witnessed struggling to nest in places that were then inhospitable to the terrapin mothers and their clutches – teamed up with local turtle expert Don “Turtle Guy” Lewis and his wife, Sue Weiber Nourse, and concocted a plan to create a “turtle garden” on the Hammetts Cove shore off Jenney Lane, an enclosed, protective, restored habitat for the terrapins to nest. In this safe, sandy spot, the turtles would be monitored, eggs protected from the myriad of predators, and welcomed to return unfettered to restore the local population of terrapins and, thus, the balance of nature at Hammetts Cove.
The project was a success, leading to the safe release of 120 baby terrapins into the wild. With only one in 350 baby terrapins surviving into adulthood, Lewis, Nourse, and Jenney Lane residents helped increase those odds to about a one-in-ten chance at survival for dozens more terrapin eggs and the resulting babies.
This year, the project has seen further success to everyone’s delight and surprise.
“The turtle garden at The Cove off Hammetts Creek in Marion has transformed that area into a veritable terrapin ‘Field of Dreams,’” said Lewis, who recently moved to Florida with his wife Nourse. “If you build it, they will come,” he added. “Its success as a turtle sanctuary has exceeded all expectations and predictions.”
Lewis and Nourse left Jenney Lane resident Landis Major in charge after they relocated, which is something Major never expected in life – not just that he would become a turtle garden leader, but that it would become a passion that would change him into what he is today, which is a self-proclaimed “turtle person.”
“I didn’t know what I was getting into,” said Major as he donned a rain jacket and made his way down the street in the middle of a tropical storm just as it began to rain to check-in on the turtle nests. He calls his turtle duty his “summer job,” averaging an extra four to five miles a day of walking just from stepping out his door for the short walk to the restored turtle habitat every hour or two.
Major keeps an eye out for nesting terrapin mothers and then fortifies the nests with those sticks used to mark the boundaries of driveways for snow plows. They are staked deep into the sand around the nest in a teepee-like formation to keep the foxes from digging them up. They are then reinforced by chicken wire walls in a cage-like structure to make it even more difficult to penetrate.
Major may have been left in charge of the project, but this is definitely not a one-man job.
Cove resident Debbie Ewing and her husband Michael Machen have also become turtle people that Hammetts Cove terrapins can count on to mind their precious eggs, protect them from predators and chase off foxes and coyotes, and accompany their hatchlings to the safety of the marsh’s mud.
“Debbie’s my right-hand person,” said Major. Ewing met Major at her doorstep, excited that one of the terrapin eggs she had safely incubated in a bucket in her home had just that moment hatched.
“It’s very, very exciting. It’s even hard to express,” said Ewing. The pair were happy to report that this year there was an abundance of new terrapin nests – scores more than last year. There were actually many more than they anticipated, and many more than they were able to save. If the terrapin mom isn’t caught in the act of laying the eggs, Major said, then the nest is covered up without a trace. The only evidence of an existing nest would come later, with a small indentation in the sand and scattered eggshells left behind by a hungry fox.
“We’re all in a learning phase,” said Major. “And we’ll only get better,” added Ewing.
Ewing describes the experience as a terrapin caretaker as “the pinnacle of life.” She has always loved nature, but she never imagined starring in her very own personal “Animal Planet episode,” as she described it.
As a former elementary school teacher, Ewing said she would enjoy getting local students somehow involved in the terrapin rescue efforts. Major said his grandchildren have certainly enjoyed assisting in the caring of the turtles.
“That’s the best part,” said Machen, “teaching the next generation.”
Ewing said Major was the right guy for the job, and residents, confident in his leadership abilities, even recently elected him as president of the homeowner’s association for The Cove.
“Landis and his team have made miracles happen for the terrapins of Sippican Harbor,” said Lewis.
No one knows for sure just how long those turtles have been coming to the cove, but Major and Ewing are committed to ensuring their return for many years to come.
“We’re turtle people,” said Ewing as she, Machen, and Major stood in the kitchen, leaning over a yellow bucket containing five baby terrapins that hatched only moments before – and they wouldn’t have it any other way.
By Jean Perry
