Peregrine Falcon
The hunter in the sky
Mark witnessed a peregrine attack ducks in flight. Evidence of the successful strike still marks its beak—an unfiltered moment that entered the story’s danger.
Photographs by Mark St Jean
The real wild lives behind the story.
These are not stand-ins. They are the animals Mark watched, photographed, and carried into the world of Trials in Flight.
Eastern Coyote
The vole hunter
Near the refuge maintenance area, coyotes listen and pounce for small voles beneath the grass.
Northern Harrier
Low over the marsh
A harrier works close to the reeds, reading the ground with every turn of its wings.
White-tailed Deer
A morning of play
A mother and juvenile stepped into the marsh one morning and played—an unexpected tenderness in a wild place.
Snowy Owl
Visitor at Sandy Point
A snowy owl rests against the pale winter landscape at the island’s southern end.
Places that were here
The Pink House
For generations, the weathered house beside the Plum Island Turnpike stood alone against the Great Marsh. It became a landmark, a subject for artists and photographers, and part of the visual memory of the road to the refuge.
The legend
A house built out of spite?
The story told for years was that a woman demanded an exact copy of her family home in a divorce settlement. Her husband supposedly obeyed the letter of the agreement—but placed the replica alone in the salt marsh, without fresh running water.
It is a memorable story. It is also not supported by the surviving records.
The documented history
A harder, more human story
Historical research shows that Gertrude Cutter purchased the land in 1925 and built the house for her son Henry, his wife Ruth, and their young child. The family moved in that November, years before the couple’s divorce proceedings.
Ruth left after only twelve days amid isolation, poor conditions, and an already-troubled marriage. Those events may have helped the later legend take shape, but researchers found no divorce agreement requiring a replica house and no evidence that the home was built as a legal act of revenge.
House and habitat
A perch above the marsh
Even an abandoned human structure became part of the working landscape. A raptor rests on the chimney, watching the same marsh crossed by harriers, coyotes, deer, and migrating geese.
The house was demolished on March 11, 2025. A plaque now marks the site, while photographs preserve the landmark as it stood within the marsh.
Historical sources: Newburyport Preservation Trust and Support the Pink House.
“For the wild places that teach us how to pay attention.”
— Mark St Jean