WELLS — Who owns the beach? That was the topic of a talk given Wednesday night at the Wells Reserve at Laudholm by land surveyor Robert Yarumian and historian Edwin Churchill.

The presentation, “Who Owns the Beach? Investigations into Historical Ownership of the Maine Coast,” was held to discuss new findings available in the Report on the Coastal Land Deed Research, written by the presenters, that was completed this month for the Town of Wells and the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve.

“What is it about a beach that brings out a crowd on a beautiful summer evening?” Paul Nest, director at Wells Reserve, asked the crowd before the presenters took the stage.

The ownership of, and rights to, Wells Beach have been controversial for years. In Maine, it is understood that oceanfront property owners own the land from their homes down to the beach and even farther to the low-tide line. In other states, it is uncommon for landowners to take ownership of the area between low and high tides, known as the intertidal zone.

But in Maine, it is also accepted that members of the public have the right to fish, fowl and navigate within the intertidal zone.

Using historical records dating to the 1600s and 1700s, the researchers believe the beach is under ownership of the town and not individual property owners along its shore.

“This area of land where we have our homes now was not necessarily deeded out to an individual person, but over a number of years changed to what people perceive the boundaries to be,” Yarumian said to the audience. “It’s very clear it’s the Town of Wells and the inhabitants to be granted out this piece of property.”

Yarumian said confusion as to who has the rights to the beach has persisted due to ever-changing language surrounding property boundaries.

“One of the goals of this research project was to take research of some of the current beachfront property back in time to see how it changed and how it conformed,” Yarumian said. “If I took 10 to 20 pieces of property, scattered about out of the thin air, and go back in time, what happens?

“What I found was that, back in the time when the coastal areas started to become developed as a summer place, things started changing. A 4- acre marsh would turn out to be a 20-acre chunk of land,” Yarumian said, noting that people would change the sizes of their lots based on where they defined their boundaries.

The boundaries of some lots may have first been distinguished at the “seawall,” but would later be defined as “beach,” or then say the property extended to the “sea” or the “Atlantic Ocean,” according to the paper’s executive report.

The report goes on to say that the source of all land titles came from the Town of Wells and not private individuals under the proprietorship of Gov. Thomas Gorges in about 1642. Gorges granted the Wells Plantation to John Wheelright, Henry Boade and Edward Rishworth, who became town commissioners, in 1643.

The report claims this title gave the town the rights to grant deeds of land, indicating ownership of the beach area on behalf of the town.

“One of the goals we needed to do in this research project is to find out who and what is the source of the land grants. Clearly, it was from the town inhabitants as the original landowners,” Yarumian said.

“It’s my opinion that any piece of property that was deeded out between the 1640s to the 1714 time period when the town started coming together. All those pieces of property were at one time confirmed by the proprietors, or the town.”

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.