A group of nine owners of beachfront dune shacks in Provincetown, Massachusetts, are protesting National Park Service plans to move ahead with 10-year leases to new owners.

The shacks were seized by eminent domain in the 1960s, but the occupants then were given leases, some long-term and some from year-to-year.

In an attempt to make the situation more stable, NPS wants to lease out the shacks in 10-year increments and has been giving tours of the buildings, some of which still have the belongings of their occupants inside. Now, current occupants must leave.

Among those affected is Salvatore Del Deo, a 94-year-old artist who has lived in a dune shack given to him by a friend for 77 years. Mr. Del Deo began helping maintain the first iteration of his shack for original owner Jeanne Schnell in 1946, who later willed the structure to Mr. Del Deo and his wife.

In the eyes of the National Park Service, however, the rightful heir of the shack’s lifetime lease was not Mr. Del Deo but Schnell’s daughter Adrienne. The younger Schnell died in 2016, with Mr. Del Deo continuing to pay taxes on the property, and the National Park Service did not learn of her death until recently. (Read more from “National Park Service Evicting 94-Year-Old Artist From Cape Cod Shack He’s Occupied for 77 Years” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

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