On a nice summer day, Popham Beach State Park fills quickly with beach chairs, umbrellas, and squealing kids who splash in the waves.
Follow the beach beyond the state park about a half mile north, and you'll arrive at a quieter stretch in front of cottages that are part of Popham Beach Estates. It's a subdivision that dates back to the late 1800s.
Many families have owned property here for generations, including Clark Hill's. But as he stands on the sand in front of the cottage that he's been coming to since he was a kid, he's suddenly found himself on disputed territory.
"Really, the first communication from him was a letter saying, 'I now own this. And you guys need to stay off,'" he says.
The dispute is with Hill's neighbor, Richard Tappen. That letter from Tappen's attorney was sent in April 2021. A month later, Hill says he received another letter.
"With the demand for money if we want to be on the beach, along with stipulations of what time of the day we'd be allowed on and what we could do," Hill says. "Five-thousand [dollars] per cottage. So $30,000 a summer."
In addition to their beachfront cottage, the Hill family owns five other cottages in the woods behind.
Attempts at mediation failed, and now the Hills are being sued by the Tappens for trespassing and for erecting structures on the Tappen's property, including a portion of their beachfront cottage, boardwalk, and path.
Hill says the lawsuit comes as a shock because the two families have been neighbors for more than 70 years.
"What specifically sort of triggered this off was a much more confusing trade of land that took place," he says.
The Tappens claim they purchased three and a half acres of land in early 2021 from another property owner who has since passed away. The land abuts the Hill's property and cuts in front of it, extending all the way down to the low tide line and in front of other families' cottages. But Hill's attorney, Benjamin Ford, says it was a bogus sale at a rock-bottom price, and based on the seller relinquishing claim to the property.
"For that three and a half acres, Mr. Tappen paid $15,000," Ford says. "The cost of a used car for three and a half acres of prime beachfront property in the state of Maine."
Ford says the land was never actually for sale because it was owned in common by all of the residents of the subdivision.
"So we all assume that the beach here is owned in common and, and sort of by default, it ends up being more or less a common public beach," he says. "You can walk from the State Park through here, and many people do."
If the Tappens' lawsuit is successful, Ford says it would not only cut off the Hill's access to the beach, it would also allow other unallocated beach land at Popham and elsewhere along the coast to be scooped up for purchase.
"And if the beach can be sold, then that means it becomes private property. And then people can be thrown off at the beach to whoever happens to buy the beach at that point," he says.
"I disagree completely," says David Soley, a Portland attorney who represents the Tappens. "I see no wider ramifications in this particular case at all."
Soley says the situation only affects the Hills and the Tappens, "two private waterfront owners just having a unfortunate fight because they unfortunately can't get along and limit use to their own property."
He says it stems from how the Hills are operating their cottage rentals.
"They allegedly are directing their tenants to the Tappen beach and to walking over the Tappen property," Soley says.
Hill denies the allegation, and says he gives renters clear instructions to only set up on the beach in front of their own cottage. And if the Tappens prevail, Hill's attorney Ford says that beach and others along the Maine coast could suddenly be off limits. As an example, Ford points to Moody Beach in Ogunquit, where private landowners have prevailed in lawsuits over public access.
"So right now in Ogunquit, you can walk Ogunquit, which is a public beach, and then you get to Moody Beach," says Ford. "And as soon as you get to Moody Beach, there's signs that go up that say, no trespassing, private beach. And there's this immediate chilling effect that says, 'Stay off our beach. Get out.'"
Ford says he doesn't want that to happen at Popham, or any other Maine beach.
The case is expected to go to court early next year.
