Plum Island Point, Newburyport

A Barrier-Island Point Between River and Sea

Plum Island Point marks the northern tip of Plum Island, a slender barrier island guarding Newburyport, Massachusetts, where the Merrimack River completes its run to the coast. A wide inlet opens here, folding the river's freshwater currents into the open Atlantic.

A Living Sandy Shoreline

The foreground spreads across a broad reach of pale sand, stitched with rows of dune fencing that trap drifting grains and steady the fragile dunes, while scattered riprap boulders armor the shore against the restless tides. It is a quintessential New England barrier-beach, sculpted endlessly by sand and current.

Across the Estuary to Salisbury

Beyond the channel, Salisbury Beach traces the far shoreline, its low dunes melting into the horizon across a natural maritime gateway. This real-time view frames the ever-changing meeting of river and ocean on one of the North Shore's most dynamic stretches of coast.