Louis Bell

“ When the angle of the pile exceeded the natural slope of such materials, growth in that particular plane ceased, and a terrace was formed. Thus the wall, as far as its seaward side is concerned, seems to be a sort of concretion, the terraces being formed in succession, partly out of new material furnished by annual storms and partly from what was left after the first terrace had reached its present angle. Constant pounding of the waves has solidified the wall, though various storms have partially undermined it and necessitated the re-formation of its face. ”

“ The size of the stones in some parts of the formation may give an idea of the tremendous force of the rushing waves that produced it. Stones of from twenty to thirty pounds in weight are common along the crest of the wall, fifteen feet at least above high-water mark. And not only this, but stones of the same size have been thrown completely over the wall into the road, more than a hundred feet from the water. After a severe storm the road is sometimes strewed thickly with these great pebbles, and some trouble is necessary to clear it. ”

“ In places it is so high and wide that one can hardly believe it anything but a carefully constructed dike, designed to shelter the adjoining fields. Along part of its extent, where it separates the ocean from an extensive salt-marsh, it is utilized by the farmers of the neighborhood for a cart-road. Along another stretch, a plank-walk surmounts it for half a mile.
It first appears in the form of a low wall composed of three terraces, near Little Boar's Head, in the town of North Hampton, thirty rods south of the slight projection known on the charts as Fox Hill Point. ”

“ That an invention so important, made in the heart of Germany, should not have been instantly perfected and utilized would surprise us in this country, if history did not abundantly teach that inventions complete in themselves often lie sterile until the favorable season and soil are found for their commercial adoption and development. ”