Kingston

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Kingston
The Town of Kingston is a coastal community in Southeastern Massachusetts located about 35 miles from Boston. The Town was incorporated in 1726, though prior to 1726 Kingston was known as the North Precinct of Plymouth. The first request to separate into an independent township was in 1717 when 41 men of the northern part of Plymouth petitioned the General Court to have the Northern Precinct be set off from Plymouth as a separate township so that residents could worship closer to their homes. The General Court would only grant the township if the petitioners could support a public school. Several years later, Northern Precinct residents raised twenty pounds to defray the charge of a school and again petitioned the General Court to divide Plymouth and erect a new town by the name of Kingston. The Court agreed and in June of 1726, Kingston became an independent town. Through succeeding centuries the Town of Kingston flourished due to the productive lands of the Jones River and its tributaries. The abundant iron ore mined from the town’s bogs was processed into tacks, nails, augurs, anchors, stoves, hollow ware, shovels and spades by the mills and foundries in town.
As one industry faded, another rose to take its place. Farming was succeeded by the iron industry, and that in turn was succeeded by the shipbuilding industry that flourished along the banks of the lower Jones River. The first warship, the Independence, built for the Revolutionary Provincial Government of Massachusetts was launched at the Drew shipyard in July 1776, commanded by Capt. Simeon Sampson, a Kingston resident.
While Kingston’s shipbuilding industry flourished, transportation by land became easier and safer when the Old Colony Railroad came to town in 1845. As the years passed, the town settled into a productive period of trade and manufacturing: C. Drew and Company (1837) and Cobb and Drew (1855), were world renowned makers of tools and other iron products well into the twenty-first-century.
Towards the end of the nineteenth-century the building of commercials ships declined and one by one the yards closed. They were soon replaced by a few small boatyards; perhaps the most notable being the yard of George Shiverick. Shiverick designed and built racing yachts and the famed Shiverick catboats from 1898 – 1940, one of which was owned by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Today, Kingston is principally a residential community with a small number of professional fishermen and cranberry growers. A large proportion of the residents are commuters, many using the extended MBTA line. Much of the Town’s commerce centers around retail business including the Independence Mall with its 100 stores located at exit 8 off Route 3. The Town’s early history as a part of the Plymouth Colony settled by the Pilgrims has spawned an active historical community and specifically a historical society, the Jones River Village Historical Society, which maintains the Major John Bradford House (built circa 1714 by the grandson of the Colony’s first Governor, William Bradford) for public viewing and for seasonal activities.
The Town of Kingston has been active in protecting open space, acquiring several large parcels as public lands for open space, conservation and recreational purposes.
Kingston is especially proud of its Norman P. Opachinski Athletic Field Complex, consisting of a concession stand and eleven fields for baseball, soccer, and football located near the town center on Pottle Street. The fields are under the direction of the Recreation Commission who also oversees the newly renovated Gray’s Beach Park in Rocky Nook.

Braintree

Town of Braintree is a suburban community with a strong residential character located ten miles south of Boston. Incorporated in 1640, Braintree has a rich history and a promising future. The town is ideally situated at the crossroads of Route I-93 (128) and Route 3 for easy access to the Greater Boston area and Cape Cod as well as having excellent public transportation to Boston and Logan International Airport. The community has a good mix of established neighborhoods, small clusters of new homes and several condominium complexes.

There is a strong business base which includes one of the largest regional shopping centers in the northeast; The South Shore Plaza. Attractive office and industrial parks are located in the town as well, because of its ideal location.
Braintree has a rich history. Old Braintree was the birthplace of two presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams, as well as John Hancock and General Sylvanus Thayer, the founder of West Point.

Residents feel that people are attracted to Braintree as a good place to live and work because it has an excellent public school system as well as Thayer Academy and Archbishop Williams High School, and a fine parks and recreation program with the availability of many recreational resources such as Town Forest, Pond Meadow Park, Sunset Lake, Smith Beach, the Cranberry Pond Conservation District, the MDC Blue Hills Reservation trail system, and an 18 hole public golf course.

Braintree is a mature community with a broad residential and business base that is positioned for controlled growth in the coming years.

Duxbury

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Duxbury founded in 1637, was named by Myles Standish after Duxbury Woods in his home town of Chorley, Lancashire, Great Britain.  Settled by the Pilgrims Myles Standish and John Alden in 1624, Duxbury was incorporated in 1637. Duxbury is primarily a residential community on the Atlantic coast in Plymouth County Massachusetts.
Duxbury is approximately 35 miles south of Boston and has a more than 14,000 citizens.  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.

Duxbury Beach is a major, unspoiled, natural recreational asset and the bay itself supports an active shellfish industry with important conservation characteristics. Duxbury Beach is well known as one of the most beautiful and accessible beaches in Massachusetts.

Most residents are employed in managerial and executive positions in the greater Boston area and have access to Boston via Rte 3 and commuter rail stops in nearby towns. The town is considered an affluent suburb of Boston. In 2008 the median price of a home was $641,332.

Duxbury is a town of choice for families seeking excellent schools, outstanding community services and a pleasant residential atmosphere. The town prides itself on its excellent school system and extensive participation of citizens in community activity. Over 93 % of graduating high school students advanced to higher education.

Hanover

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If “William Barstow was the first white man to settle within the present bounds of Hanover” according the historian, John Barry. Barstow was here are early as 1649 and built a rough shelter near the North River close to the present Four Corners. Barstow constructed the first bridge to span the North River and kept this bridge “in repair sufficient for the transportation of passengers, horses and cattle” until he died in 1668. The historian, Jedediah Dwelley reports that the so-called Barstow Bridge “was the first to span an important stream in the Colony.” The present bridge on Washington St. is the fourth located on this early site.?

In William Barstow’s time this area was part of Scituate, but as mills were built, villages were settled, the town of Hanover was incorporated in 1727. In 1728 the first meeting house (church) was constructed, and a minister and school master were procured. Later settlements were located near Luddam’s Ford and the dam at the Indian Head River, (South Hanover), by the Drinkwater River (West Hanover), near the Third Herring Brook (Assinippi), along Long Water Brook (North Hanover), and in Center Hanover. Soon each village had its own district school, general store and later post office.?

Shipyards were early located on the banks of the North River and became well known for the many ships launched in the Four Corners area. Near the smaller streams early mills ground corn, sawed lumber, forged iron, and later used the water power for tack factories, At the end of the 1800′s the Clapp Rubber Mill and shoe factories employed many of the former farmers. In the first part of the 20th century, the National Fireworks was the largest employer in West Hanover.?

Hanover sent its men to the Revolution in 1776, Col. John Bailey, who served with Washington, being the most famous. Men volunteered for the later Civil War and the First and Second World Wars, and memorials have been erected honoring its veterans.?

The early settlers built their sturdy houses and barns to shelter their families and live stock, and many old capes and colonial homes can be found on the old main roads. Open space is valued and help preserve the small town image that Hanover projects.?

Most of the manufacturing and farming are part of the past, and Hanover has grown into a fine residential town, which is proud of its schools, library, churches and its involved citizens who serve on committees to maintain Hanover as a fine town to live in.

Hingham

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Hingham’s roots go back to the earliest days of European settlement in the new world. The first Europeans arrived in 1633, calling the area Bare Cove. Here they found the Massachusetts Indians, a tribal branch of the Algonquin Nation. Relations between the indigenous people and the settlers were friendly with the Native Americans providing food and teaching the settlers how to grow corn. The first significant European settlement was established in 1635 when the Rev. Peter Hobart arrived with his followers from Hingham, England. In that same year, they renamed the town, Hingham, and it was incorporated as the 12th town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1665, the Massachusetts Indians, weakened by plague and attacks by the Abanaki Tribe, granted the land “from the beginning of the world” to the settlers. This deed, bearing the mark of the Sachem Wompatuck, hangs in the Hingham Town Hall today.

In 1681, Hingham’s 140 families raised the money to construct the Old Ship Meeting House. Still in active use, it is recognized as the oldest wooden church structure and the oldest church building in continuous use in America. During the American Revolution the population had reached 2000. Approximately 600 men from Hingham served in that war. The period following the war was a tranquil one in which the economy flourished. Fishing, farming, shipping and milling were the primary occupations. In 1784 the Derby School, later Derby Academy, was established as the first co-educational school in the nation. The Academy has moved to new quarters, but the original building now serves as the headquarters of the Hingham Historical Society and is used for meetings and social functions.

In the 19th century, Hingham’s fishing industry peaked with 65 fishing vessels and the fourth largest mackerel fleet in the country. It was such an important port that for 45 years there was a customs house marking Hingham as an official port of entry to the U.S. By the Civil War, the population had grown to 4000, 854 of whom served in the war.
On July 7, 1899 Seaman Herbert Lewis Foss was awarded his country’s highest honor, The Congressional Medal of Honor, for his extraordinary bravery and coolness under enemy fire. He became Hingham’s only Medal of Honor recipient. Read more about Seaman Herbert Lewis Foss.

The 20th century saw war change the face of Hingham dramatically. In 1906 the Navy built a “Magazine” on 697 acres in North Hingham to store ammunition for the North Atlantic Fleet. In the South End, 500 sailors were stationed at “Camp Hingham”. Again during WWII, Hingham was called upon by the Navy. Seven square miles (now Wompatuck State Park) were used for a huge ammunition depot. Then in 1942, 150 acres at the harbor were taken for a shipyard to build convoy ships (Destroyer Escorts “DE’s”). This marked the first mass production of ships as Hingham turned out 16 at a time in a huge effort. At the height of production, 24,000 people were employed working around the clock, seven days a week.

After the war years, there was an urgent need for housing and schools to accommodate returning service men and the resulting baby boom. The housing stock continued to expand. But by the 1970′s the Town focused on acquiring land to preserve as open space. This concern for the environment and quality of life remains a priority in Hingham today.

Primarily a residential community now, Hingham is connected to Boston by highway, bus, commuter boat and, in a few years, by the restored Greenbush commuter rail line. It has multiple recreation sites on fresh and saltwater and within parkland. Hingham today looks to the future with an eye to preserving its rich history, so evident in the remarkable architecture preserved in both public and private buildings, and in the protection of its open space.

Marshfield

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Marshfield, founded in 1640 by Edward Winslow, retains much of the character of its pre-Colonial past. Verdant glens, vast sweeping stretches of marshland, the quiet power of its rivers and pounding surf of its coastline have changed over the centuries, but enough remain to envision what the land must have looked like to early settlers.
Winslow, a shipmate of the Pilgrims who ventured to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620, moved north to Marshfield in 1632 onto land granted by the Plymouth Colony Court. He would later serve as the colony’s governor.
Born 400 years ago this year, he and his descendants would leave their mark on Marshfield for centuries to come; the historic Winslow House still stands at the corner of Webster and Careswell Streets, nearly 300 years after it was built.

With Winslow’s settlement came a road — perhaps the first official road in the country — connecting Marshfield with the Plymouth Colony. This byway, today known as the Pilgrim Trail, still exists is patches, including a stretch off Webster Street that was recently. included in a parcel recorded by the National Register of Historic Places.
A true father of his town, Winslow was responsible for Marshfield’s first church, school and for organizing its first town meeting. Today he lies buried in a cemetery named for him, not far from the land he settled.

As centuries passed, Marshfield grew, but not as some communities with a central hub and outlying spokes of settlement. The town grew up in several distinct areas whose personalities are recognizable more than 350 years later. Green Harbor, Brant Rock, Fieldston, Rexhame, Marshfield Hills, Humarock, North Marshfield and others sprang up and came together only gradually as the years progressed.

During the Colonial era, Marshfield was home to Nathaniel Ray Thomas, a famous Tory of his time, who declared allegiance to the English crown in the face of opposition from his Marshfield neighbors. In order to protect Thomas from retribution, the Commonwealth garrisoned British soldiers at Thomas’ estate. On hearing the news, several Patriots planned a raid, calling off the attack only after learning the British had positioned cannon on the estate. Weeks later, after the Battle of Lexington, a Patriot militia stormed Thomas’ land only to find the British troops had fled by boat.

Fifty years later, attorney, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State to three presidents Daniel Webster bought the Thomas estate and began a career as gentleman farmer. Webster entertained numerous dignitaries, and conducted affairs of state from his Marshfield home, giving his last speech here shortly before his death in 1852.

The landscape of Marshfield has changed considerably over the years. In 1872 a dyke was built, the road over which connected Brant Rock with Green Harbor. The project was the subject of heated debate among farmers, who were eager to drain and work the land, and fisherman, who claimed the dyke would interrupt the river’s tidal flow and silt in the mouth of Green Harbor. Despite the controversy, the dyke was built, opening thousands of acres of lowland on which hundreds of families live today.

At the north end of town, the mouth of the South River was blocked during the fierce Portland Gale of 1898. The storm forced the original mouth at Rexhame closed and opened a new mouth about a mile north at Fourth Cliff. These two phenomena resulted in a more stable tidal system making virtually the entire town accessible by horse, foot and, later, automobile.

Norwell

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Norwell can’t be understood completely until you know a little about her history.   A glimpse at the town seal tells you about the importance of boat building.  The genesis of boat building was purely economic.  In the early seventeenth century, as the British Navy began building more ships and the demand for merchant vessels increased, wood became scarce in Britain. The cost to build a ship in New England was half the cost of building one in England.  Trees that had grown unhindered for 150 centuries covered the countryside: the forest canopy was 200 feet throughout most of the northeast woodlands.  Such strong, stout pine and oak was there for the taking, soon a thriving boat building business sprung up along the banks of the North River to take advantage of this “inexhaustible” supply source.

Most of the boats that were built here were small working coastal boats, as the North River shipyards didn’t have the depth required for larger boats. But the Columbia, America’s first ship to circumnavigate the globe, and after which the mighty Columbia River is named, was built on the North River! The largest ship ever built on the North River was built by William Delano at the Wanton Shipyard and was called the Mount Vernon.
Norwell was originally settled in about 1628.  In 1637 Cornet Robert Stetson was granted a tract of land about four miles along the North River.  This area was part of Old Scituate (incorporated in 1636, and including all of Norwell, most of Hanover, and portions of present day Cohasset, Marshfield, Pembroke, and Hanson).

With little tillable land, early settlers were quick to take advantage of river marsh grass for cattle forage.  Marsh grass was hauled upriver from otherwise inaccessible marshes on large flat-bottomed boats, called Gundalows, which were capable of hauling from 3 to 8 tons of salt hay up river.  Haying on the lower river ended after the Portland Gale of 1898, a monstrous November hurricane which moved the mouth of the North River about a mile north of its old mouth, to share the mouth with the South River, as it does today.

1849 Norwell split from Scituate and became known as South Scituate.  In 1888, it changed its name to Norwell, after Henry Norwell, a wealthy Boston merchant and benefactor to the small rural town.

Pembroke

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Pembroke is an attractive suburban community located in the South Shore area of southeastern Massachusetts.  The Town is located 26 miles south of Boston, 16 miles north of Plymouth and 14 miles east of Brockton.  The Town’s current population is 18,549 (2007 Census) up from a level of 14,544 in 1990.  Pembroke contains 23.48 square miles (21.85 square miles of land area) and the population density is currently 836 persons per square mile.  The population density has increased from 666 persons per square mile in 1990.

Pembroke is located off Route 3, a major highway connecting to Boston via Interstate 93 to the north, to the Route 128/Interstate 95 beltway around the western suburbs of Boston, and Plymouth and Cape Cod to the south.  Other regional highways include Routes 14, 53, 27, 139 and 44.  These highways provide connections to adjoining communities as well as Boston, Quincy, Brockton, Plymouth and Taunton and Providence.  The Town is also accessible to MBTA Commuter Rail service in nearby Hanson, Halifax, and Kingston, and the MBTA Red Line in Braintree and Quincy.

The Town has an Open Town Meeting form of government, with a five member Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator.  Elected or appointed boards and commissions direct much of the Town’s operations.
Pembroke has traditionally been an agricultural and industrial community, but since WorldWar II has become primarily a residential community providing housing for persons working in the greater Boston metropolitan area.