A half-century ago plus five years, a new causeway was arching over the bay. By Memorial Day weekend there was only one section to go. Until it was complete and open, visitors still had to sit and wait every time the bridge between Bonnet Island and Ship Bottom was raised to let a boat pass underneath. The War Department – under whose auspices the drawbridge operated – decreed that the bridge would not open during certain hours. So the boats had to line up and wait, too.

Before the span was complete and open, I quite illegally and foolishly drove in my little TR-3 past the barricade up to…