Wellfleet Public Library

Presented by Friend of the Herring River

We don't think of Edward Hopper as a marsh painter. It is a little-known fact, however, that the allure of the Outer Cape salt marsh estuaries did not escape his attention as he chose specific elements to include in his compositions. Quite a few of Edward's paintings of Truro show portions of the Upper Bound Brook sub-basin of the Herring River Estuary. In addition, both Josephine and Edward painted marsh portions of Wellfleet's Duck Creek, and Edward painted Truro's Pamet River estuary. In the Hoppers' early Outer Cape paintings, the marshes are easy to see and had not yet been invaded by shrubs, bushes and trees that choked out native salt marsh species due to the diking of the Herring River in 1909. This lecture will discuss the landscape environment that greeted the Hopper's when they arrived in the 1930s and the estuarine beauty they captured many times. Now, the Herring River Restoration Project (HRRP) is working diligently to restore the beauty and function of a healthy salt marsh system.

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