Nantasket Beach is a beach in the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Hull, Massachusetts Hull is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, located on a peninsula at the southern edge of Boston Harbor. Its population was 10,072 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Hull is the smallest town by land area in Pl ...

. It is part of the Nantasket Beach Reservation, administered by the state

Department of Conservation and Recreation The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is a state agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, situated in the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. It is best known for its parks and parkways. The DCR's mission is ...

. The shore has fine, light gray sand and is one of the busiest beaches in

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 ...

. At low tide, there are acres of

tide pools A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide. Many tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals that ...

Name

The name "Nantasket" is derived from

Wampanoag The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 1 ...

and means "at the strait" "low-tide place" or "where tides meet" as Hull is a peninsula. Nantasket was settled not long after

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

and before

Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Description The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...

. Roger Conant was in the area after leaving the Plymouth Colony and before going to

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 ...

in 1625. Until Hull was incorporated in 1644,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

settlers referred to the whole local region as "Nantasket Peninsula."

History

In 1825, Paul Warrick established "The Sportsman Hotel" on Nantasket Avenue. Later, more hotels were built and steamboats made three trips a day between Nantasket Beach and

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 ...

in the 1840s.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...

spent time at Nantasket in July 1841, reflecting on "the beauty of the good" and "the book of flesh and blood".The Heart of Emerson's Journals, edited by Bliss Perry, Dover Books, 1958 In 1905, an amusement area called

Paragon Park Paragon Park was an amusement park located on Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts. It closed in 1984. Rides Among the amusement rides in operation during Paragon Park's history was a traditional-style Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel (PT ...

was built adjacent to the beach. A carousel built by the

Philadelphia Toboggan Company Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia ...

(PTC #85) in 1928 was included. This was closed in 1984.

References

External links

Nantasket Beach Reservation
Department of Conservation and Recreation {{Authority control Landforms of Plymouth County, Massachusetts Parks in Plymouth County, Massachusetts Beaches of Massachusetts Hull, Massachusetts State parks of Massachusetts