In This Unlikely Place

There is a kind of metallic green stain, bitten deep into Depression-era shingles that exists nowhere else. Once you cross the state line, whether at Pawtucket or Westerly, a subtle change occurs, a cheerful dishevelment, a contempt for appearances, a chimerical uncaring.

Eastwick was at every moment kissed by the sea, a town shaped like an L, embracing a ragged bit of Narragansett Bay. Where Brown Street held the downtown businesses, Main Street, at right angles, was home to the grand old houses, their beauty weathered but enduring. 

- John Updike Witches of Eastwick

All photographs were made in 2023 in Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. Always near the coast.