Elderly artist forced to vacate shack he’s maintained for nearly 80 years

An elderly Massachusetts artist is being kicked out of the Cape Cod shack he maintained for nearly 80 years as the National Park Service begins granting long-term leases to new renters.

Salvatore Del Deo, 94, resided in the Provincetown dune shack for the past 77 summers, where he paid taxes and was deeded the dwelling, according to CBS News.

But the Park Service does not recognize Del Deo as the owner and has ordered him to vacate the shack.

The artist and veteran arrived in Provincetown in 1946, where he met Jeanne “Frenchie” Schnell who built a remote dune shack along the Cape Cod National Seashore as Del Deo helped maintain the abode.

In 1953 after serving in the Korean War, Del Deo returned to Provincetown where he met his future wife Josephine at a party.

Schnell gifted the shack to Del Deo and his wife as a honeymoon suite.

The Park Service took possession of 19 dune shacks in the ’60s through eminent domain, offering the current owners lifetime leases, and the new renters signing long-term leases, while others only leasing year-to-year.

After gaining ownership of the dunes, the Park Service attempted to raze the structures, but the dwellers, led by Josephine fought back and with the help of John F. Kennedy created the Province Lands that became part of the National Seashore reservation, according to the Boston Globe.

“They saw the park as the only solution to the overwhelming amount of people who came on the weekends, and the investors,” Del Deo told WBZ News. “Park would be the lesser evil because they will maintain the purity of the back shore.”

Del Deo, whose name adorns two local Italian restaurants including Ciro & Sal’s, was deeded the shack from Schnell but before her death, one of her daughter’s, Adrienne Schnell, came into her life and was seen as the rightful owner of the shack by the Park Service.

When the younger Schnell died in 2016, Del Deo continued to maintain and pay taxes on the property for seven years before the Park Service noticed.

In March, Miriam Mazel, the Park Service’s acting real estate officer sent a letter to Del Deo offering condolences for the daughter’s death, but also ordered him to vacate the property, according to the Boston Globe.

Del Deo’s family, led by his son Romolo, appealed the eviction, which the Park Service granted an extra 90 days, but now the artist is being forced to remove all his property from the shack and turn over the keys by June 27.

The Park Service began accepting bids for long-term leases for the eight designated shacks — “Frenchie’s” shack not included — but Del Deo was told the property could be won through a bidding contest.

“We’re not even allowed to bid [on the shack] right now,” Romolo told the Boston Globe. “We don’t know when that might be possible, or under what conditions.”

Romolo also said resisting the federal orders would be too complex and expensive.

Another daughter of Schnell is alive and living in Tennessee, but the Park Service has denied her request for the Del Deos to remain as a steward.

A Change.org petition created to stop “Halt the eviction of Salvatore del Deo” has been signed by over 6,000 people

The petition asks the Park Service, Department of the Interior, Secretary of State John Kelly, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Rep. William Keating, to halt the eviction of Del Deo and offer him a lifelong lease to the shack for his “artistic contributions and his dedication to the Cape Cod National Seashore.”

“Sal has lost the love of his life by the way he talks about Josephine. She was the activist. She is alive in the dunes.” Michela Murphy told WBZ News. “It’s nothing for the Park Service to give him a lifetime lease. He’s 94 years old.” 

Murphy contends that the current shack was built by Del Deo on the site of Schnell’s original shack.

A protest, led by Murphy took place earlier this week calling for the Park Service to end the high-price bids, but was only attended by a couple dozen people.

The shack, titled “Frenchie’s” Dune Shack but labeled by the Park Service as “Jeanne Chanel Shack with Outhouse” sits on the foredune near the Provincetown/Truro border.