Whether it be a hot summer day or a brisk winter afternoon, the North Shore shoreline is always a beautiful place to walk. You can see railroads and large boats transporting goods as you walk along the rocky shores of Richmond Terrace.

We started at Richmond Terrace and Sailors Snug Harbor, a stop on today’s S40 bus, and what used to be a stop on the Northshore Railway, the abandoned commuter rail that ran along Richmond Terrace. By 1989, trains to run on the North Shore Branch were stopped because of a lack of use of the tracks.

You may not see the tracks at the Richmond Terrace and Sailors SH stop as they are almost completely with vines, trees, dead leaves, and trash, but continuing forward, the tracks soon become visible, and so does more of the rocky shoreline.

There is a point where all the trees previously blocking the tracks and shoreline simply stop, and it opens to a large beach, a combination of large, seaweed covered rocks, and small pebbles that your feet sink into. The train tracks become slightly elevated, and curvy.

While you walk with the sounds of the crunching pebbles and crashing waves to the shore, you follow the tracks, which eventually lead to the site of another old station for the Northshore Branch: Livingston Street Station. This station had been almost completely demolished, but the tracks remain, sturdy in the ground.

Following these tracks will lead to yet another, higher, elevated section of tracks. Try to balance and walk across, fighting against the wind to stay upright. Eventually, these tracks become buried and cut off, limiting further travels, as you approach the active docks of the shipping companies. But there is one more spot: a large concrete structure at the edge of the water. Climbing on top and sitting creates the perfect atmosphere to just look out in the water to smell the fresh air and appreciate the things we often overlook.

As always, the complete photo album is linked here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WcQELSRYwYjj2xHP6