Overlooking Daniel Webster's Pier

I like the notion of driving to new picturesque spots to paint and I romanticize in my head the experience of spotting just the right subject, setting up from exactly the right vantage point, using the perfect color harmony and executing a painting that I feel completely satistfied with.   Reality check ...  it never happens that way.  The pursuit of that ideal, however is what keeps me moving to the next painting and the next.

On this fine day, the reality unfolded far from the ideal above but entirely enjoyable.   I drove to an "old" picturesque spot less than a half a mile from my house.   I set up at the end of Marginal Street, at the top of the residential road (Careswell St) that descends to the Green Harbor Marina.  This vantage overlooked the Green Harbor River and a long narrow dock with moored boats.   On the other side of the river is the back side of Brant Rock. 


My color harmony consisted of the sky influenced cool greens and ultramarine blue water.   The pavement in the foreground was a cool, pale lavender gray.     The colors had the brightness of a perfectly clear and sunny May day.   I liked the way the tree beside me was casting shadows in the foreground of my scene.    I did a bad job capturing these foreground shadows, the color and the shapes.   The warmest color in the scene was in the marsh grasses between the closest shore and the dock.   They had a reddish tinge to them.  

A nice elderly woman who lives in the adjacent property visited me a couple of times as I painted.  She was very interested in the scene I was painting.   She pointed out a row of pilings in the water just off the edge of her property.   It was just past high tide so they were scarcely visible at first.   She said that those pilings had been the site of Daniel Webster's boathouse.   She also shared that one of the tiny houses up on Marginal Street was Daniel Webster's gun house.

Without too much effort, when I returned home, I searched for Daniel Webster's boathouse and located the following excerpt  from the Dec. 8, 1917 meeting of the Marshfield Historical Society.   The description of the path to my painting spot seems to be exactly the location where I was standing, and of course, validated by the woman who lives there.

"Elisha Kent House was the first building at Green Harbor. It was originally a boathouse built by Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster had a brand and with it he stamped on the house "D.W. 1835"; Later, Mr. Peterson put on his mark, "C.S.P. 1905."; Mr. _____ bought it and moved it. It was afterwards bought by Mrs. Kelley of Washington who fixed it over and sold it to Mrs. McCarthy. It is on Careswell Street next to Mrs. Joseph Thomas's. The parsonage was built sixty-seven years ago by Mr. Peterson for Mr. Webster's gardeners. It was moved to Green Harbor for a summerhouse for Mrs. Fletcher Webster, and Mrs. Webster gave it to the society for a parsonage.

An old road came up from Plymouth to the Winslow place. It crossed Cut Canal (Cut River) near Big Cut and Little Cut Islands; went along Beech Street across to Marshfield. It then crosses Wharf Creek by a bridge next to Juniper Island. You can still see the old piles in the mud. The road was near the Hayward House. Old. Dr. Winslow had a fine orchard near the head of Beech Street. In going from Green Harbor to Green Harbor Station, it is on the right before you come out to the Careswell house. Just beyond the orchard, the old road turned to the right above Beech St.   The land was once all marsh."


If you are interested, you can read more: The Dec. 8, 1917 meeting of the Marshfield Historical Society - Marshfield, MA - Marshfield Mariner http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/opinions/x902721573#ixzz1vw6xUvnD