LoraLabonte.com - About the South Shore Area

Cohasset

The Town of Cohasset covers a nine square mile area in a setting of colonial homes and ocean vistas of spectacular beauty. The town is about 25 miles from Boston and is predominantly residential, many of its residents making the daily commute to work by bus, car or commuter boat from adjoining Hingham. Route 3-A bisects the town and provides a location for a multitude of large and small businesses. At present, there are four active shopping malls within the town. Cohasset's central village lies around a spacious common with a small pond, and includes specialty shops, the colonial First Parish Meeting House and St. Stephen's Church with its 56 bell carillon that has offered Sunday concerts since 1824. The town has active Community and Arts Centers, three historical museums and the renowned South Shore Music Circus, as well as the Swim Club, two beaches and the recreational facilities of Whitney Woods Reservation and the Wompatuck State Park. Along the shores of Cohasset Harbor are facilities for dining, sailing and a replica of the famous Minot's light. Plans are in motion to extend and improve the waterfront area. Many town residents involve themselves in community activities and the school system is highly rated academically.

Hingham

The Town of Hingham covers an area of 22.5 square miles and is approximately 15 miles south of Boston. The town's history is reflected in its many immaculately kept antique houses, including the "Old Ordinary" on Lincoln Street, which now houses the Hingham Historical Society Museum. Derby Academy, founded in 1784, is the oldest co-educational school in the country and Hingham's First Parish Old Ship Church is the oldest church structure in the country in continuous use as a place of worship. Hingham has created six historic districts which will help the town maintain its unique character in the future. Hingham is proud of its location on the water, and construction of a new harbor park further expands the public use of Hingham Harbor. The acquisition of the South Shore Country Club by the municipality provides additional recreation opportunities for residents while preserving the suburban character of this historic seaside community.

Duxbury

Duxbury is a coastal community 33 miles south of Boston in Plymouth County. The Town was a center of shipbuilding until the mid-nineteenth century when ships became too large for the shallow bay. Many historic and beautiful homes from Pilgrim times and the shipbuilding period still exist. Formerly a rural and summer community with an economic base of fishing and agriculture, Duxbury has become a residential suburb of Boston since Route 3 made daily commuting possible.

Hull

Historians believe that the interesting history of Hull was determined by its unusual geography. The town is a long narrow peninsula projecting into Boston harbor, which the Plymouth Colony used to set up a trading post with local Indians in 1621. Star-shaped Fort Independence was built in Hull in 1776 to defend Boston Harbor, and General Benjamin Lincoln oversaw the evacuation of Boston from this site in 1778. French Admiral d'Estaing used the fort to defend the French fleet from British attack when the French were forced to land for repairs. The town was devastated by loss of manpower and income during the Revolution when its major businesses of fishing, shipbuilding and lightering were interrupted by the blockade of Boston.

In 1825 a new industry was launched in Hull when Paul Warrick built the Sportsman Hotel on Nantasket Avenue, the very first hotel in the town (and also the very last, since it is the only one still standing). The magnificent beaches of the town, easy access to Boston and sea air brought hordes of visitors and by 1840 steamers were making three trips a day between Boston and Hull. Boardinghouses and elaborate hotels catered to visitors while Hull fishermen and farmers still pulled nets and farmed in its rural acreage. Claiming and salvaging wrecks was also a profitable sideline for residents, who established a lifesaving team which rescued thousands stranded on foundering vessels.

Hull enjoyed an era of grand hotels and prestigious visitors but gamblers, pick-pockets and confidence men followed the tourists on the honky-tonk boardwalk until the town licensed the construction of Paragon Park, described by contemporaries as a "marvel of fantasy", to provide safe family fun for the guests of the town. When the amusement park closed in 1985, an entire era ended for the town and the millions of visitors who had used and enjoyed it for generations. But another era began as Hull acquired a suburban character with a growing number of professionals moving into town, drawn by the same beaches, proximity to Boston and sea air that drew people in the 19th century.

Marshfield

The Town of Marshfield is located in Southeastern Massachusetts in Plymouth County. A coastal community 30 miles from Boston, Marshfield has a yearly population of about 21,000 people which grows to about 40,000 in the summer months. The town's rich history of over 350 years dates back to the pre-Revolutionary War era and is best known as the birthplace and home of Daniel Webster. Marshfield is 31.70 square miles in area, and contains 28.50 square miles of land and 3.25 square miles of water.

The town has a traditional New England government structure with a three-member board of selectmen, an administrator and an open town meeting. Among the basic services provided to residents are public safety, schools, water and sewer, trash removal, recreation, public library and senior center. The town's water and sewer and trash operations are managed through enterprise funds. Marshfield is active throughout the year with events such as the Marshfield Fair, which attracts visitors from all over the State. The community takes pride in the education it offers its young people, in its sports programs and in its unique environmental beauty both on the coast and inland

Norwell

The Town of Norwell is an affluent suburban community in Plymouth County which still retains some of its past rural character. Bounded by the North River, Norwell attracted settlers for its agricultural land and its water power potential. Colonists built grist and sawmills on the river as well as boatyards, and shipbuilding was a major industry in Norwell until the draft of boats being built outstripped the depth of the river.

Poultry farming became the largest business in town and flourished until a virus killed off the flocks, wiping out many of the producers. The farmers had to sell off their land to developers, triggering a period of residential development and growth for the town. The end of the Second World War brought the G.I. Bill which provided low-interest loans for veterans and created a building boom that almost doubled the town's population between 1950 and 1955. This brought people with a diversity of backgrounds to what had been a homogeneous English and Scottish town. The new immigrants, unlike those which came to other area towns for mill jobs in the 19th century, are generally executives in the companies which occupy surrounding office parks.

Norwell now has a suburban residential character which residents feel has not detracted from its charm as a small, friendly, rural town.

Scituate

Scituate is a small to mid-sized seacoast community located equidistant between Boston and Plymouth. In the 375 years since its incorporation, it has evolved from a summer colony to a residential community but has managed to retain some of the flavor of its past.

Ocean-related recreational activities make it a very desirable place in which to live and to raise families. Its Town Pier accommodates a working fishing fleet and that, coupled with three business areas, represents commercial interests in the town. Scituate also has a strong sense of its history and commemorates its founding in August each year via the celebration of "Heritage Days".

Historic points of interest include: Scituate Lighthouse, The Old Oaken Bucket Homestead and Well, The Lawson Tower, Stockbridge Mill and the Cudworth House as well as the Little Red School House which is the home of the Scituate Historical Society.

Residents pride themselves on the strength of their school system and on the achievements of the great percentage of students (85%) who go on to higher education from Scituate Public Schools. The Town of Scituate is a delightful mix of rural, suburban and seaside lifestyles within a 25 mile ride to the City of Boston.