Aerial Photos
Aerial photos are a good way to show ditches. For 1950 and later, the MacConnell collection at UMass Amherst has aerial photos of Massachusetts, online, https://credo.library.umass.edu/view/collection/mufs190. The collection is a jumble, but there is a map that lets you home in on an area, at least for those from 1950 to 1952. See more guidance at the bottom of this page on my website — https://www.lylenyberg.com/copy-of-3d-cliff. These are great, but not in as high resolution as later photos.
In 1968, the town of Scituate, MA, had aerial photos taken of the whole town. The Town Archives has a set of copies, in the form of interpositives (like negatives). They are large and unwieldy sheets about 40" wide. There are more than 60.
At left, top, is a photo of Second Cliff and Peggotty Beach in 1968. Note sets of parallel straight ditches off creeks in marshes. Source: Town of Scituate, Town Archives, CGL-134.
At left, the second image is an index map. It helps to show what areas of town correspond with the photos, numbered CGL-xxx.
I had two interpositives professionally scanned in high resolution -- CGL-134, which covers Second Cliff -- and CGL-136, which covers Third Cliff. I gave digital copies to the Town Archives. Copies appear in my book On a Cliff: A History of Third Cliff in Scituate, Massachusetts (2021), ch. 20 and ch. 21.
The scans are each more than 100 MB in TIFF or PDF format, too large to include here.
I also took digital photos of some of these 1968 interpositives. (I had to add white paper behind the interpositive.) Unedited copies are at left.
These and additional copies are shown here. They show North River marshes on CGL-12, -14, -175, -177, -136, -137, -127, and -139.
Detail of CGL-136 [?], southern end of Third Cliff
(my ref IMG_0246).
Detail of CGL-127, south of southern end of Third Cliff with The Spit at right (my ref IMG_0259).
Detail of CGL-139 [?], showing Fourth Cliff at left (my ref IMG_7646_edit).
