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disappearance of the pine forest which once extended down 

 Plum Island. No matter what happened to the trees, one 

 would expect, with the movement of the sands, to see the 

 stumps of this forest occasionally reappear. There is no 

 reference in the literature of this ever occurring on the 

 island, or any mention of it by long-time residents of the 

 area. 



It is interesting to note that Townsend (1913, p. 84), 

 while describing the Castle Neck sand dunes, which are 

 across the bay from the southern tip of Plum Island, states: 



"Mr. C. J. Maynard tells me that forty years 

 ago not only were there no pines, but no 

 large clumps of bushes to be found in the 

 dunes . " 



Thus around 1873 the Castle Neck dunes appeared very similar 

 to those on Plum Island at that time. It seems likely that 

 the forests which once covered both dune systems succumbed 

 to the same fate. 



Modern Development 



For 190 years after John Smith first described Plum 

 Island the only access to it was by boat. In many ways this 

 was beneficial, for it successfully prevented any large 

 scale habitation of the island. It wasn't until 1806 that 

 the Plum Island Turnpike and Bridge Corporation completed 

 the first turnpike to the island by building a bridge across 

 the Plum Island River (Currier, 1896). The bridge was 

 seriously damaged in 1818 and a number of times thereafter 

 (Smith, 1854). It was completely washed away in 1832, 

 remaining in disrepair for the succeeding five years. It 

 was destroyed again in 1851 and rebuilt a short time 

 afterward (Smith, 1854) . The year following the completion 

 of the turnpike a hotel was built on the island near what is 

 today the junction of Northern Boulevard and Plum Island 

 Turnpike (Smith, 1854). This area became known as Plum 

 Island Center. 



In 1886, a horsecar line was built from Plum Island 

 Center to the steamboat landing, at the northern tip of the 

 island, to provide passenger service between the hotel and 

 the steamboat landing.^ In 1887 track was completed from 

 Newburyport across the Plum Island Bridge to Plum Island 

 Center. During the summer of that year regularly scheduled 

 horsecar service ran between Market Square, Newburyport, and 



All of the following information concerning train 

 service to Plum Island is from Massachusetts Northeastern 

 Street Railway vol. 1 by 0. R. Cummings (1964) . 



