There are THREE wood jetties.
The property faces outward directly to the Chesapeake Bay and has suffered from many nor'easters in addition to hurricanes Isabel, Ernesto and other.
Bay water invades the property (in severe cases) and reaches the underside of the wood frame building, which has an open foundation about two feet above the ground.
The wood jetty to the left and the one in the middle are intact.
The wood jetty on the right (about a meter or so off the property line of the owner to our right, Ann Nichols) has about forty feet (new-er) intact shoreward however the remaining wood jetty part that juts an equal distance further outward is now destroyed.
We have spent perhaps five thousand on two separate occasions to repair and shore up the part now gone but the person(s) doing the work obviously do not understand shore erosion control. One person has since died of natural causes (not very old age).
In addition, matching our neighbors on left (Mr. Baker from Richmond, VA, with apparently bottomless pockets, Baker truck construction company) and right (Ann Nichols, again) we added STONE "rip-rap" to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars. Since then, the Ann Nichols side (after storms) has added even more and higher STONE, which we have NOT matched (cost).
My spouse is Rev. Dr. Elizabeth P. Braxton and the "cottage" beach front (building 15' x 45' army barracks WW II) has been in the family for about sixty years by now (we were born 1943, she, and 1944). We have one offspring, who just turned age 39 in September.
She "Beth" says she wants to replace the Jetty.
It is clear to me that what we do (wrong) can actually exacerbate the situation.
It looks like you all do business in Maryland.
We have some digital photographs if that would help.
Looking at more recent work along the side of Gwynn (the island is about three miles in length) we see what looks like a more durable wood jetty constructed of newer materials:
what looks like a PVC product which interlocks like
___
[ ]
[____]
and so forth, with the following characteristics:
POLES (driving into the sand) are on BOTH sides and bolted through with heavier timbers, 3" or 4" by 10" or 8" or more rather than "two-by" thickness and there are outside the interlocking plastic parts. On recent canoe along shoreline we even see places where this kind of construction has been done on TWO jetties (each property line on either side of a person's land) with the bottom (shoreline) part of the "U" shape same material sea wall, all in combination. I hope that description makes sense.
The cottage has been in place at least since the 1950's. The family rented it when living in Peterburg, VA. They may have purchased as early as 1957 or so.
Later they added a strip of adjacent land which we call "the bird sanctuary" around 1967 or so. I first saw the property in 1966, May (or almost June).
In case you all do not cover Mathews County, VA, I am hoping you can help direct us to some partner firm(s) you know that are qualified.
