The North Shore is a region in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
, loosely defined as the coastal area between
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. The region is made up both of a rocky coastline, dotted with marshes and wetlands, as well as several beaches and natural harbors. The North Shore is an important historical, cultural, and economic region of Massachusetts. The southern part of the region includes several of Boston's densely populated inner suburbs. At the center of the North Shore lies its most prominent geographic feature,
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...
, with numerous small fishing towns, and at the northern end lies the
Merrimack Valley
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those ...
, which was a major locus of the
Industrial Revolution in the United States
The Industrial Revolution in the United States was an epoch during the first 100 years of United States history where the economy progressed from manual labor and farm labor to a greater degree of industrialization based on labor. There were ma ...
.
It contains the cities of
Salem, known worldwide as the site of the
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
; and
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
, site of
Charles Olson
Charles Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modern American poet who was a link between earlier figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the New American poets, which includes the New York ...
's ''The Maximus Poems'', and of
Sebastian Junger's 1997 creative nonfiction book ''
The Perfect Storm'' and its 2000
film adaptation.
Beverly was home to author
John Updike until his death.
Salisbury Beach State Reservation
Salisbury Beach State Reservation is a state-owned, public recreation area on the Atlantic Ocean in the town of Salisbury, Massachusetts, managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. It is one of the most heavily utilize ...
, lying within the town of
Salisbury, Massachusetts
Salisbury is a small coastal beach town and summer tourist destination in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The community is a popular summer resort beach town situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Boston on the New Hampshire border. ...
, is a popular beach resort with over 1 million annual visitors.
The region also prominently figures in the works of
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
and
H. P. Lovecraft, notably the latter's ''
The Shadow over Innsmouth
''The Shadow over Innsmouth'' is a horror novella by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in November–December 1931. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using
its motif of a malign undersea civilization, and references several shared e ...
'', as well as
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 ...
poets
T. S. Eliot and
Robert Lowell.
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
's 2010 feature film ''
Shutter Island
''Shutter Island'' is a novel by American writer Dennis Lehane, published by HarperCollins in April 2003. It is about a U.S. Marshal who goes to an isolated hospital for the criminally insane to investigate the disappearance of a patient who is ...
'', set on a fictional
Boston Harbor
Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, and is located adjacent to the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the northeastern United States.
History
...
island, was partly shot on location on the North Shore.
Kenneth Lonergan
Kenneth Lonergan (born October 16, 1962) is an American film director, playwright, and screenwriter. He is the co-writer of the film ''Gangs of New York'' (2002), and wrote and directed '' You Can Count on Me'' (2000), ''Margaret'' (2011), and ' ...
's 2016 film ''
Manchester by the Sea'' is set in the
eponymous seaside town, and major portions of it were filmed in Gloucester, Beverly and other North Shore communities.
Sian Heder
Sian Heder (; born June 23, 1977) is an American television writer, television producer, and filmmaker who is best known for writing and directing the films '' Tallulah'' and ''CODA''. ''CODA'' earned Heder an Academy Award for Best Adapted Scree ...
's 2021
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning feature ''
CODA'' was set in Gloucester and filmed there, along with other North Shore locations.
Definition
The North Shore has no fixed definition as a region. It may include only those communities between Boston and
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...
, as defined by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (whose purview does not go beyond
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern a ...
); or the larger part of
Essex County, including parts of the
Merrimack Valley
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those ...
, as defined by the North Shore Chamber of Commerce. The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, which defines regions in terms of
watershed, refers to the North Shore as the coastal region of Massachusetts north of Boston stretching from
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
to
Revere, including the inland city of
Amesbury.
Coastal
North Shore of Massachusetts could be taken to mean the entire coast of Massachusetts from New Hampshire to Boston (listed in order, north-to-south):
Economic
The Boston Metropolitan Area Planning Council'
North Shore Task Force a regional planning agency, defines the North Shore as also encompassing
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of ...
and several inland communities. When combined with the North Shore Chamber of Commerce's definition of the region, the North Shore comprises the following cities and towns:
Cultural
The North Shore has historically been viewed as a wealthy, exclusive collection of towns and fishing villages, but also contains some working-class cities and suburbs of Boston. In 1893, ''The New York Times'' described the region as a notable summer destination for the socialites, politicians, and businessmen of New York and New England, dotted with hotels, cottages, and burgeoning gentlemen's clubs. Salem, known worldwide as the location of the
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
; the working-class fishing city of Gloucester; and the region's many beaches make it a popular tourist destination.
History
The North Shore communities have varied and rich histories:
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
was America's first fishing community;
Salem was the location of the infamous witch trials as well as one of the largest centers of shipping and sixth largest city in early America. The hysteria that led to the witch trials began in the part of Salem that is now
Danvers.
Lynn was once the center of the American
shoe
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture ...
industry.
Saugus is home to the
first integrated ironworks in North America.
Peabody had the largest concentration of
tanneries
Tanning may refer to:
*Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather
*Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin
**Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun
**Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...
in the world; and
Beverly and
Marblehead often dispute over which town was the birthplace of the
American Navy.
Newburyport
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
was well known for producing clipper ships and for a brief time in history was the richest city in the Union; it is also the birthplace of the
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...
. Newburyport maintains the largest collection of Federal period commercial and residential architecture in the nation.
Sites of interest
![Newburyport downtown](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Newburyport_downtown.jpg)
*The
Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and th ...
– a museum with large collections of maritime artifacts and Asian art.
*
*The
Salem Witch Museum
*Historic
Downtown Salem
*The
Salem Seaport
*The
Saugus Iron Works Saugus may refer to:
Places
* Saugus, Massachusetts, U.S.
* Saugus, Santa Clarita, California, U.S., named after its sister city in Massachusetts
* Saugus, Montana, U.S.
* Saugus River, in Massachusetts, U.S.
Education
* Saugus High School (Cal ...
*The
Swampscott Fish House – the oldest active fish house in the country.
*
Newburyport
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
's historic district maintains the nation's largest collection of Federal period architecture
*Historic
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
and
Rockport Seaports
*
North Shore Navigators
The North Shore Navigators are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Lynn, Massachusetts, playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). The team plays home games at Fraser Field in Lynn. The team is owned by Ol ...
collegiate-league baseball team
*The
North Shore Music Theatre
North Shore Music Theatre is the largest operating regional theater in New England. It is located in Beverly, Massachusetts and is one of the few remaining theatre-in-the-round stages left in the United States. The theater is owned by Massachuset ...
in
Beverly, New England's largest
regional theater A regional theater or resident theater in the United States is a professional or semi-professional theater company that produces its own seasons. The term ''regional theater'' most often refers to a professional theater outside New York City. A reg ...
*The
Larcom Theatre
The Larcom Theatre is a 600-seat auditorium located at 13 Wallis Street in Beverly, Massachusetts and offers live music, theatrical productions, ballet, and comedy.
From 1985 through 2012 the Larcom Theatre housed the two-hour Le Grand David pr ...
in Beverly built in 1912 is the oldest, operating Vaudeville theatre in the region, also once home to
Le Grand David
On February 20, 2012, Le Grand David and His Spectacular Magic Company celebrated its 35th anniversary. The company was then the longest consecutively running stage magic show in the world, according to Guinness World Records. Marco the Magi (Ces ...
.
*The
Cabot Street Cinema Theatre
The Cabot Performing Arts Center is located at 286 Cabot Street in Beverly, Massachusetts.
History
For more than ninety years the Cabot Street Cinema Theatre has been an important part of the Boston's North Shore community. Harris and Glover Wa ...
in
Beverly was home to
Le Grand David
On February 20, 2012, Le Grand David and His Spectacular Magic Company celebrated its 35th anniversary. The company was then the longest consecutively running stage magic show in the world, according to Guinness World Records. Marco the Magi (Ces ...
, the world's longest-running resident
stage magic
Magic, which encompasses the subgenres of illusion, stage magic, and close up magic, among others, is a performing art in which audiences are entertained by tricks, effects, or illusions of seemingly impossible feats, using natural means. It ...
show. until 2013.
*
Castle Hill in Ipswich
*Revere Beach, the first public beach in the United States, in Revere
*
The Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, the only home of a victim of the
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
open to the public
See also
*
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern a ...
*
Merrimack Valley
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those ...
*
South Shore (Massachusetts)
The South Shore of Massachusetts is a geographic region stretching south and east from Boston toward Cape Cod along the shores of Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay. It is subject to varying descriptions including municipalities in eastern No ...
References
Further reading
* Garland, Joseph E., ''Boston's Gold Coast : the North Shore, 1890-1929'', Boston, MA : Little, Brown & Co., 1981.
{{Coord, 42.6, N, 70.8, W, region:US-MA, display=title
Regions of Massachusetts