WGME-TV, Aug. 19

Dozens march in protest over beach ownership at Moody Beach

by Aysia Reed, WGME, Sat, August 19th 2023, link to original story and video HERE

OGUNQUIT (WGME) - A march in Ogunquit at Moody Beach on Saturday, as local residents protest the beach's private ownership. A crowd of dozens of people began a march at North Beach this morning. Last year, a judge ruled that the land between the high and low tide marks belongs to adjacent private property. The issue of beach ownership in Wells has been highly contested for decades: back in the 1980s, homeowners sued the town for not enforcing trespass laws.

"In 1989, the Maine Supreme Court told us we could no longer use 99% of Moody Beach,” said Jeanne Connery, who attended the rally. “We were limited to the sand in one of three rights of way and as it stands now on busy weekends in the summer, everyone is packed together like sardines."

Organizers say that the public has access to a very small area of about 40-feet of the more than one-mile-long stretch of Moody Beach.