Plymouth Beach (also called Plymouth Long Beach or The Point) is a small village located in

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. It is located directly south of Plymouth Center, and is adjacent to

Plimoth Patuxet Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonis ...

(formerly Plimoth Plantation). Plymouth Beach consists of a motel, a restaurant and a small beachside community along Warren Cove.

Barrier beach

The village of Plymouth Beach is best known for its prominent

barrier beach Barrier islands are a coastal landform, a type of dune system and sand island, where an area of sand has been formed by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few is ...

. The beach is approximately three miles in length. It begins just south of the Eel River bridge on Route 3A, and juts out almost due north, running along the last ½ mile (0.8 km) of the river before it empties into

Plymouth Harbor Plymouth Harbor is a harbor located in Plymouth, a town in the South Shore region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is part of the larger Plymouth Bay. Historically, Plymouth Harbor was the site of anchorage of the ''Mayflower'' where the ...

. The barrier beach offers protection of Plymouth Harbor. Plymouth Beach is also an important breeding and nesting site for several threatened and endangered shorebirds, including the

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, Passerellidae, sparrow-sized wader, shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band acro ...

and the least,

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

and

roseate tern The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McD ...

s. The beach is a critical checkpoint in migratory birds' flight. The birds stop at Plymouth beach to rejuvenate. The birds' routes typically span up to 3,000 miles (4,858 km) of non-stop flight. The barrier beach is intensively managed by the Town of Plymouth to allow some recreational activities while protecting nesting birds and the fragile barrier beach system. Plover and tern nesting areas are monitored and protected by Town staff. One of the largest common tern colonies in Massachusetts is located at the point. Plymouth Beach has a mix of public and private ownership, with 90% of the barrier beach owned by the Town of Plymouth.

Gallery

Image:Plymouth Beach from Plymouth Bay.JPG, Plymouth Beach from Plymouth Bay Image:Houses on Plymouth Beach.JPG, Houses on Plymouth Beach Image:Plymouth Beach MA.JPG, Tip of Plymouth Beach, with

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore (Massachusetts), South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 ...

in the distance

External links

Plymouth Town Website

at Pilgrim Hall Museum Villages in Plymouth, Massachusetts Beaches of Massachusetts Landforms of Plymouth County, Massachusetts Tourist attractions in Plymouth County, Massachusetts Villages in Massachusetts {{PlymouthCountyMA-geo-stub

Barrier beach

Gallery

See also

External links