Voices Carry ...

At 7:30 last night I heard loud laughter, which caused me to lift up the shade and peek out the window. A teenager was circling the Seagull Cottage parking area, with a cell phone pressed to her head, in animated conversation with someone. When I came out, she beat a quick retreat down the road to the neighbor's house.

From time to time yesterday, I had heard dogs barking, adults shouting to each other, and children screaming, noises that emanated from the property below ours, in the woods. The neighbor lives in California and rents the house during the summer. The tenants stay a week, then leave. They are tourists, here on vacation. Nothing wrong with that. Wellfleet's two main industries are shellfishing and tourism.

It's a three-bedroom contemporary-style house, with a "newer studio cottage" next door. I have not been able to count exactly how many people are sleeping on the property, but there have been at least four cars entering and exiting, with license plates from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virgina, and Pennsylvania. No doubt a family gathering, wouldn't you think?

These temporary neighbors probably chose an ad for a summer house near Dyer Pond, in the quiet woods of Wellfleet. Guess what. When you make noise, the woods are no longer quiet.

Since I happened to have the owner's phone number, I called California to let him know. Sure enough. He had no idea that a multitude of people was in residence.

I just checked the online ad, and it states "occupancy for 6 to 8."

There's no mention of "quiet woods," so the tenants have no way of figuring out our neighborhood is known for birdsong, not noise, and that they should keep it down. Voices carry.

I'll suggest to the neighbor that he add "quiet woods" to the online description for 2012.

If you live in Wellfleet, have you ever been upset by tenants who became temporary neighbors in summer? If you come to Wellfleet as summer visitors, do you try to "keep it down" and be respectful of neighbors who live here year-round?