Salty the Seahorse

Salty rules!
We were visiting Massachusetts from Oakland, California.
xoxo
The Clarences

What a cute local landmark! I actually had no idea about Salty until I checked my Unilocal app to see what was in the area and just had to check him out. The nice owner of Gloria’s Goodies gave my friend and I directions and we went to see Salty after buying some great baked goods from her store. Very cute! He was decked out for Christmas and the lights looked great. There’s a small park area behind him and we parked the car, stood in the grass, looked at him, took some photos, and then were on our way. It’s stuff like Salty that makes random road trips to new destinations fun!

In this era of video games and Ritalin and fast food and short attention spans, it’s a marvel that Salty the Seahorse remains ever-​attentive at the corner of North Street and Route 6, maintaining steady eye contact at all who pass. Salty is one hell of a 35-​foot plaster sculpture, long outliving the owner of the souvenir shop at the busiest intersection in town. The surrounding 3.5 acre park, just south of the I-​195 entrance, would’ve been perfect for a McDonald’s or some other commercial interest. But thankfully, the late Henry Dunseith bequeathed the land (now called Dunseith Gardens) to the Mattapoisett Land Trust. Since then, the Land Trust held defiant against offers from speculators, a rally of local children helped convince city leaders to keep the seahorse standing, a Boy Scout blazed a nature trail, a community effort resulted in a gazebo and garden, and a brook feeding Mattapoisett Harbor continues to course eternally through. Every Christmas season, the Brownell crane lifts a Santa Claus hat atop the seahorse’s pointy head.
Salty, his blue eye now kept illuminated by solar power, is a reminder that not only do the good guys sometimes win, but that they can sometimes get away with staying true to their selves and being a little weird.