The Gudgeon Clock still keeps colonial hours

The Gudgeon Clock sits on the brick face above Peg-and-Line Wharf and has never, in living memory, agreed with a watch. That is not a defect. It is keeping colonial hours, which run a polite forty minutes behind whatever Cale has written on the chalkboard.

Visitors who wait for the bronze hand to reach the harbor mark will miss the turning basin walk and catch the better light on Little Mackerel instead. I have the 1764 vestry note. Cale has a tide table. We are both correct in our departments.

Stand under it at the half hour. If the gulls are facing inland, the ferry to the island is already thinking about leaving.