The final stop on the Cliff Walk, at the end of a rocky beach, is Eastern Point. Just offshore, a blackened ledge, simply called Black Rock, stands firm against the perpetual battering of surf. When Homer painted this picture he had just purchased this land from his brother, Arthur, becoming one of the few artists to actually own the subject of their work. In the distance stood Richmond Island, just off Cape Elizabeth, and to my left was Prouts Neck and Scarboro beaches, two popular stretches of sand in the summer. Behind the beaches are bathhouses that Homer built for the people of the neck.
Homer never swam or even lay on the beach.
Remarkably, with all his love for the ocean, he never owned a boat at Prouts Neck. He rarely sailed, only on occasion with his brother Arthur. Thus, his interests in boats were merely pictorial, the exception being the canoes he owned to fish in the rivers of the Adirondacks or Canada. I continued my tour, passing his house at 31 Winslow Homer Road. Back at Homer's studio, staring once again at the artist's portrait, I realized that Homer could have easily inserted himself as fisherman or wilderness guide into any of his paintings.