“… took the ferry across to the Neck, where Wandrei communed with his beloved and newly-discover’d sea from the rugged cliffs.” — July 1927 in a letter (letters to Moe p. 154).

In the Edwardian and 1920s periods. A boat of larger capacity and less sea-sickness inducing rocking was evidently needed by the 1920s.

Once across and walking off the ferry, the maps and lanes suggests the natural option would be to make one’s way up to the lighthouse and sea-cliffs at the far end. As I’ve shown elsewhere there’s a fair likelihood that a young lad who lived facing the wide ocean at the far end inspired the writing of “The Strange High House in the Mist”, via his fan-letter to Weird Tales.

Also, somewhere in the deeps about here rolls Lovecraft’s Waterman pen. According to the Moe letters he lost it on the Neck in summer 1923…

We crossed in the ferry to Marblead Neck, (where b.t.w I had lost my 1906 Waterman the Thursday before)” (letters to Moe, p. 116)

He later recalled it was lost “amidst the sands”, so presumably he was on the small rocky beach at the far end of the Neck. On hearing of the loss, Moe sent him a fine “self-filling” Conklin pen.

‘The Churn’, Marblehead Neck.