Pleasant Bay Overlook

Hidden History

Landscape designer Joyce K. Williams uncovers an unusual bit of history while turning a simple yard into one with lush, year-round blooms and antique objects

The owner of this seaside garden overlooking Bassing Harbor, the entrance to Ryder’s Cove and Crows Pond, loves nautical antiques—“crusty, rusty stuff,” says landscape designer Joyce K. Williams of Chatham.

Here, tucked among the resplendent gardens are pier lights, a metal cleat and antique bollards, short posts used principally for mooring boats. Granite pavers around the swimming pool were reclaimed from the Longfellow Bridge spanning the Charles River. A Dennis antiques store yielded a pump and an old trough turned up in Boston.

Pleasant Bay Overlook was featured in Chatham Living by the Sea, Annual 2019 issue.

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