The South Shore is a great place to live! It's no wonder citizens take great pride in their homes. If you want to know more about any of these areas, just click on them
Click on the town of your interest below.
Scituate, Norwell, Hingham, Cohasset, Hanover, Pembroke, Duxbury, Marshfield, Plymouth, Rockland, Hanson, Abington and Kingston
Scituate
Some of the loveliest beaches on the south shore of Boston. It is accessible by bus as well as the popular Boston ferry nearby. The crime rate in Scituate ranks among the lowest in Massachusetts. Coupled with highly-ranked schools, a lovely active waterfront town center, challenging golf courses, and some of the south shore's best restaurants, the town of Scituate is favored by many. To find out more about the town of Scituate, click here.
Scituate HarborNorwell
A beautiful country town, yet it offers good accessibility to public transportation and most major routes. Sprinkled with tree-lined neighborhoods, Norwell boasts its connection with the North River and some larger parcels of wooded land. Schools in Norwell are among the best on the south shore, and the town prioritizes education, large minimum lot sizes and the rural beauty that Norwell offers. There is still close proximity to shopping and restaurants. To find out more about the town of Norwell, click here.
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. To find out more about the town of Hingham,click here.
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 twenty-five 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. 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 fifty-six 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. The school system is highly rated academically.
Hanover
Hanover has maintained a "country town" atmosphere over the years, yet has combined it with the convenience of shopping malls, light industry, and, of course, technology. Today's population of nearly fourteen thousand still allows room for open space and woodlands, and most homeowners enjoy sizable lots, often with stone fences left over from a bygone era. Ponds, streams, and rivers, which join historic North River as it flows to the Atlantic Ocean, provide both summer and winter recreational opportunities. Hanover is within easy commuting range of the world famous educational institutions in the Boston/Cambridge area. Other fine New England colleges and universities are within short driving range and many Hanover students commute. Historical and cultural choices abound for residents. Atlantic Ocean beaches or those of Cape Cod, and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, are a short drive away. There are nearly one thousand businesses and professional establishments in Hanover which range in size from home businesses and "mom-and-pop" stores, to those employing one hundred or more. To find out more about the town of Hanover, click here.
Pembroke
The Town of Pembroke is a rural community located approximately 30 miles South of Boston. The town is a convenient commute to Boston to the north and historic Plymouth to the south. With five ponds, Pembroke is able to offer swimming, boating and fishing in the summer and ice fishing and skating in the winter months to residents and visitors. Approaching Pembroke, visitors pass the herring run and the park, a site which brings people from surrounding areas. Pembroke's town center is that of a typical New England town with many well-preserved historic buildings, picturesque and unique to the northeast. Residents comment that if you live in Pembroke and work elsewhere, you are always happy to come home. To find out more about the town of Pembroke, click here.
Duxbury
Duxbury is a coastal community thirty-three 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.
Marshfield
The Town of Marshfield is located in Southeastern Massachusetts in Plymouth County. A coastal community thirty miles from Boston, Marshfield has a yearly population of about twenty -one thousand people which grows to about forty thousand in the summer months. The town's rich history of over three hundred and fifty years dates back to the pre-revolutionary war era and is best known as the birthplace and home of Daniel Webster. 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. To find out more about the town of Marshfield, click here.
Plymouth
Plymouth is a town in southeastern Massachusetts, on Plymouth Bay, about thirty-four miles southeast of Boston. The seat of Plymouth County, it was the site of the first permanent European settlement in New England; it is now a fishing and tourist center with ship-related industries and cranberry-packing houses. Plymouth Rock, a tourist attraction, is on the shore under a granite canopy; recreations of Plymouth Plantation and the Mayflower are also there. The pilgrims founded Plymouth on Dec. 21, 1620, establishing a settlement that became the seat of Plymouth Colony in 1633 and a part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. To find out more about the town of Plymouth, click here.
Rockland
The Town of Rockland is an industrial community in Plymouth County. The first settlers were drawn by the rich woodlands of pine and oak, and the first mill was opened in 1703. The town relied on agriculture, timbering and saw milling, and shipped large quantities of oak timber to colonial shipyards. In the nineteenth century, Rockland became a center for shoe production, and by 1837 the town was manufacturing twice as many shoes as all other towns in the county put together. Rockland is supposed to have shod half the Union Army, along with pioneering in machine sewn shoes and the production of fur-lined boots. Trollies and trains tied the town to Abington, Hanover and Brockton in the nineteenth century and the town was incorporated in 1874. By 1865, 2800 male and female workers produced $3.5 million worth of shoes and boots compared to $1.46 million in Brockton. Most shoe factories closed in the Depression years but intense commercial expansion along Route 123 brought suburban development with it, since the town is only twenty miles southeast of Boston. Although Rockland has been an industrial community since the mid-nineteenth century, there are large tracts of town which remain wooded and the town retains a somewhat rural quality.
Hanson
Hanson is a rural pastoral community incorporated in 1820. Residents of the town established a preserve for the native population of the area on one hundred acres of land in 1662 when they purchased the land on which the town is situated. Early settlers farmed and lumbered, setting up the first saw mill in 1695 on the Indian Head Brook near the present town hall. There were some early nineteenth century textile mills in Hanson, as well as shoemakers and lumber mills. Lumbering, making shingles and the cranberry industry dominated the town's economy in the nineteenth century. In 1912, a huge cranberry packing house was built in Hanson. This, with many later additions, eventually became the national Ocean Spray Corporation. By 1915, there were twenty-one cranberry growers and twenty poultry farms in a community which has to this day remained significantly agricultural. The town was named for Alexander Conte Hanson, a Maryland newspaper publisher who upheld the rights of a free press in the early 1800's when he defended his right to condemn the War of 1812. But Hanson, residents say, is much quieter and more peaceful than its namesake was and that, they note, is how they like it.
Abington
Abington is a small bedroom community of thirteen thousand people some twelve miles south of Boston. The town was famous as part of the shoe industry and, as recently as 1986, had a working dairy farm. Today, though the town's roots in manufacturing and agriculture have given way to a primarily residential community character, several small and medium size businesses flourish within the boundaries of the quiet town. The town was founded in 1712 and although it has experienced substantial growth over the last several decades, the community retains a great deal of open space and a rural feeling. Residents are proud of the parks and recreation facilities, which have produced several fine athletes. In addition, the growth of the town has not diminished the local spirit. Abington enjoys a fine school system and full time fire and police departments. Abington keeps an eye on the potential for development that lies on the horizon. At the same time, the town keeps its feet planted firmly on the ground in a desire to maintain the high quality of life that makes Abington a special place to live.
Kingston
The Town of Kingston is a coastal community in Southeastern Massachusetts located about thirty-five miles from Boston. It is principally a residential community with a small number of professional fishermen and cranberry growers. A large proportion of the residents are commuters. Early industries in the town were iron casting, forging, ship building and woolen mills. Today, much of the town's commerce centers around retail business including the Independence Mall with its one hundred stores located off Route 3. The town's early history come from its being part of the Plymouth Colony settled by the Pilgrims.
