By Shannon Larson — Fights over access to waterfront and coastlines in New England are a constant.But the folks in Nantucket have taken theirs to a new level: hiring a “docent” to monitor the crowds that will inevitably swarm the Sconset Bluff Walk in summer.

By Chris Burrell — Massachusetts should be a beach lover’s paradise, but access to the state’s shores is deeply uneven. Entry to most beaches is dependent on personal wealth, your home zip code and a shrinking allotment of “visitor” parking spaces clustered far from the water and a system of parking restrictions aimed at out-of-towners.