It isn’t a permanent fix — few ocean-facing resiliency projects are — but an ambitious earthworks project that just wrapped up at the end of Brayton Point Road will extend the life of a nearly century-old cliff-top cottage threatened by coastal erosion and year after year of storms, its owners hope.

Over the past month, massive earthmovers perched precariously close to a 20 to 30-foot cliff overlooking the water have been a daily sight at the 329 Brayton Point Road home owned for many years by sisters Linda, Ann Lee and Patricia Burch. The home lies just east of the Goosewing Beach Preserve and Quicksand Pond in Little Compton.

Stone by stone, workers hired by the Burches have repaired sections of a failing seawall and extended it some 67 feet to the west, covering the glacial till cliff in a heavy layer of massive boulders a quarter to half the size of a car. The work began in late July and wrapped up last Thursday, following approval of the project by the Westport Conservation Commission and the state earlier this year.

“The point of the matter is to protect the home that has been there since 1930,” the town’s conservation agent, Chris Capone, said.

Linda Burch, who has been the main contact point for the sisters in dealing with the town and state, did not return a phone call and e-mail left by the Shorelines. But Capone told commission members that they’ve long worried about erosion and with the house now in jeopardy, wanted to complete the work so the property can be enjoyed by their grandchildren. Covering just 9,000 square feet, the lot and building together are assessed by the Town of Westport at about $2 million.

Erosion at the site is nothing new. When it was built in 1930, the small cottage had nearly 50 feet of frontage on the cliff leading down to the beach. But hurricanes in 1938 and 1954, and relentless winter storms year in and out, have worn that frontage down to 12 to 15 feet. Cotta, who grew up in the area, said he’s seen the erosion firsthand and the last time the failing seawall saw work was following Hurricane Bob in 1991.

Prior to the commencement of work last month, the Burches worked for five or six years with neighbors to come up with a plan to shore up the existing wall and extend it to the west, toward the Rhode Island state line just yards away. Several different scenarios were considered, including a wall that would have extended much further to the west, were spitballed, but most were considered unworkable or not worth the effort until the plan approved earlier this year came along — “this will prevent sediments away and collapsing the wall in the future,” Capone said. And the planting of beach grasses on top of the cliff, as well as the addition of 35 cubic yards of beach nourishment, will help, he told commission members.

'Last House in Massachusetts'

The cottage itself has been loved by its owners since it was built by the father of Marica Drumwright in about 1930. She recalled in an essay about her memories of Hurricane Carol in 1954 that she and her family spent countless happy summer times on the property, though there was no heat, no TV and no phone. The had a white picket fence atop the cliff, a barbecue grill a few feet back and the place and there were plenty of board games inside. The family referred to it lovingly as  The Last House in Massachusetts, as it was the closest home to the state line at the southern tip of Brayton Point Road.

And she wrote that erosion is nothing new there. At the height of Hurricane Carol, she wrote, she could see “waves breaking of the TOP of the 20 foot cliff in our front yard.”

But they cleaned up after, got used to a smaller yard and continued to spend time in the home before the family sold it some years later.

“This was our little piece of heaven and I love that place even today, she wrote. “What a blessing to have those memories!”