Spending time on Onset Beach is an essential part of summer for many in Wareham. 

But for those who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids, traversing the sand can be nearly impossible. 

Luckily, the Harbormaster’s office on the Onset Pier has two beach wheelchairs, free for anyone to borrow, that improve accessibility at the beach.

The chairs are “designed to be able to roll over sand,” explained Harbormaster Garry Buckminster. They can also get wet and “go in the water a little bit.” 

Buckminster cautioned that the beach wheelchairs could overturn if someone were to venture too far into the waves, though.

“They have balloon tires,” he explained. If the chairs are taken out to water that’s too deep, “they’ll get buoyant and they could flip.”

He emphasized that the beach wheelchairs are “not a life-saving device” and are not designed to go into deep water. As a matter of safety, he added, the chairs “don’t have seatbelts on them because you don’t want somebody trapped in the chair if the chair were to flip over.”

Primarily, he said the beach wheelchairs are a mobility aid that allows people to better navigate the sand so they can enjoy the beach and maybe dip their feet in the water.

One of the wheelchairs was donated by John Salerno and the Salerno family and the second was donated by the Buzzards Bay Coalition, Buckminster said. 

The chairs are available to borrow free of charge from the Harbormaster’s office at the Onset Pier, 186 Onset Ave. 

Whoever is using the chair will be asked to provide some information, including their name, a contact number — “just in case one decides to vanish,” Buckminster explained. After the information is provided, a staff member from the Harbormaster’s Onset Pier office will unlock the wheelchair. 

“We do leave them locked up at night so nobody takes them,” he said. 

Buckminster said that it is important for people to take care of the beach wheelchairs when using them. 

“We want it brought back in good working condition without damage,” he said. “So people need to be responsible.”

When used safely and responsibly, however, the chairs have helped families enjoy the beach more easily. 

“This gives people an option to come up and borrow one of these [chairs] to move people around on the beach a little bit easier,” he said.