New Silver Beach is a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

and

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

of the same name. It is primarily a

summer colony The term summer colony is often used, particularly in the United States, to describe well-known resorts and upper-class enclaves, typically located near the ocean or mountains of New England or the Great Lakes. In Canada, the term cottage countr ...

and is the largest

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

at Wild Harbor, a natural

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

on the north shore of

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Since ...

. It is located on

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

's famous

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

in the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) of North Falmouth, in the town of Falmouth,

. The area was first settled in 1893 as a seasonal

seaside resort A seaside resort is a resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, suc ...

for the growing

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term ''lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class strat ...

of Boston, Massachusetts.

History

The original planned settlement was first constructed in 1893 as

sea bathing The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

was gaining widespread popularity in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the United States. The first street pattern resembled a star with four avenues radiating out from the waterfront intersection of Ocean View Avenue and Moses Road (then called Beach Road). Building proved profitable for developers and by 1898 Joseph Dahlburg and his Silver Beach Water Company had laid out the plans for New Silver Heights, an expansion of development in the area of higher elevation to the west of the original village. At the turn of the 20th century, the Brockton based Silver Beach Land Co. had profitably developed most of the existing plots and New Silver had gained notoriety as a fashionable destination. In the early 20th century, the Silver Beach Hotel was opened at the corner of Arlington Avenue and Wickertree Road. The hotel, though initially successful with the introduction of the

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

, went bankrupt and was subsequently sold and demolished. In the 1920s, numerous fashionable mansions were constructed on the neighboring peninsula of Nyes Neck and although many period homes remain, only two such

Gatsby Gatsby may refer to: * ''The Great Gatsby'', a 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald ** The Great Gatsby (disambiguation), an index of film adaptations of the novel ** Jay Gatsby, the novel's central character Other uses * Gatsby cap, a hat with a st ...

era mansions remain. The village was severely damaged by the great

New England Hurricane of 1938 The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike Long Island, New York, and New England. The storm ...

and rebuilding lasted well into the

post-war period In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

. During this time, nearby Old Silver Beach became the preeminent destination for the Upper Cape with the construction of the now famous Sea Crest Hotel. Though New Silver lost its regional fame, the economic booms of the 1980s and

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

led to the rapid creation of new satellite developments enabling the area to maintain its status as a desirable location for holidaymakers.

Leisure

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Yachting

Yachting has a long and prolific history in the area. New Silver Anchorage was

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

from Wild Harbor in the 1920s to shelter

Beetle Cat The Beetle Cat is an American one-design sailing dinghy that was designed by John Beetle and first built in 1921. It is a smaller adaptation of traditional Cape Cod catboat designs originally intended for fishing in shallow waters.Sherwood, ...

boats which had become popular among the

elite. Prior to

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

organized sailing flourished out of Wild Harbor, however

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare role ...

hysteria during the war led to dwindling popularity. On August 30, 1953, the Wild Harbor Yacht Club was formed on Wickertree Road to primarily serve New Silver and its constituent communities. The Club was incorporated by the United States Sailing Association the following year. A Widgeon fleet was organized in 1979. The club clinched the Southern Massachusetts Beetle Cat championship in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1989. In 1990 the club focused its junior sailing on the new

420 420 may refer to: * 420 (number) * 420 (cannabis culture), informal reference to cannabis use and celebrations on April 20 **California Senate Bill 420 or the Medical Marijuana Program Act *AD 420, a year in the 5th century of the Julian calendar * ...

class racing vessels which were already popular in

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Wild Harbor is a regional powerhouse and dominates the north shore of

and competes competitively in the Southern Massachusetts Sailing Grand Prix. Wild Harbor has produced three collegiate all-Americans and a member of the 2000 US International 470 team.

Geography

The original village of New Silver is built on the sandy

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

of the

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

Wild Harbor River. The river flows in and out of Wild Harbor, a shallow natural

onto which the village fronts. The older village center is separated from the newer Silver Beach Heights by

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard a thing against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although th ...

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

. The Greater New Silver Area has come to include the newer constituent developments of Nyes Neck, Seascape, and Wild Harbor Estates.

Wild Harbor

Wild Harbor is a prominent geographic feature in the area. It is a shallow, natural

at the mouth of the Wild Harbor River. The bay is formed by two

headlands A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Joh ...

: Nyes Neck peninsula to the north and Crow's Point to the south. The mouth of the bay is oriented to the southwest, the predominant direction of the summer

sea breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is any wind that blows from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass; it develops due to differences in air pressure created by the differing heat capacities of water and dry land. As such, sea breezes ar ...

giving the harbor unusually rough surf and predictable but strong

wind Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

patterns.

Silver Beach

The beach is located across the northeast shore of Wild Harbor between the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

of Wild Harbor River and the

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

of the New Silver Anchorage. The village center abuts the northern portion of the beach. The centrally located Moses Road runs parallel to the water between the two public access points at the end of Ocean View and Silver Beach Ave. respectively. The beach is protected from

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

by a series of rock

jetties A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...

. The sandy output from the Wild Harbor river continually builds

sandbars In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It o ...

across the southern end of the beach which form a vast network of islands at low tide. A deeper sandbar runs about ten

yards The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...

from the

shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

in an arc

parallel Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Computing * Parallel algorithm * Parallel computing * Parallel metaheuristic * Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel * Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of IBM ...

to the rest of the beach and can be under between one and two feet of water at

low tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

. Because the beach is located on a bay opening onto the larger

, the water is unusually warm for Cape Cod.

Architecture

The village has an extraordinary collection of fine 19th century structures. Many of the homes in the older center of the village are original buildings or faithful reconstructions. The village center boasts exquisite examples of the American Victorian

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

style popular across

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

before the turn of the 20th century.

External links

1893 establishments in Massachusetts Beaches of Massachusetts Falmouth, Massachusetts Landforms of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Populated coastal places in Massachusetts Populated places established in 1893 Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Villages in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Villages in Massachusetts