Hingham Commuter boat schedule	"The most beautiful Main Street in America" - Eleanor Roosevelt, on Hingham's Main Street	Get forecast South Shore map

Hingham photos Commuter boat Hingham distinctions Greenbush
Links:  Civic History Education Nautical Shipyard Restaurants Misc South Shore town websites

Hingham, Massachusetts, where I live, is a coastal community 15 miles southeast of Boston. Incorporated in 1635, Hingham was founded by settlers from Hingham, England, including Samuel Lincoln, an ancestor of Abraham Lincoln. The town was originally named Bare Cove because of the "exposure of almost its entire harbor at low tide" 1, and Bare Cove is still a frequently used name in town. The town website has a very nice history page. The photo at the left (click to enlarge) is an aerial view by Tom Hannon of Rockland, MA, which shows Hingham Square in the foreground (my house is actually visible if you know where to look) and Boston in the background, and some of the Boston Harbor Islands are also visible. "Hingham is a peaceful, beautifully preserved town that has invested the time and capital necessary to protect its heritage, its natural resources and, ultimately, the investments of its homeowners." -- Courtney Ronan, Realty Times Hingham is mostly residential, with many of the houses built in the 1800s and some even dating back to the 1600s. There are several National Historic districts here, and development is well regulated. Many houses in these districts have a plaque on the front stating their year of origin. Many of these older homes are Georgian and Federal styles (see pictures), and there are also many houses from the last two centuries including Victorians, Greek Revivals, Italianates, Capes, and contemporary-style residences. There is a beautiful park and bathing beach at the harbor, and the town also has several large wooded areas, including World's End (some photos), which is located on a peninsula jutting into the harbor, Wompatuck State Park, which has bike paths and hiking trails, camping areas, and flowing spring water, and More-Brewer Park, a 106 acre conservation area. I frequently walk the dog through the Hingham Cemetery, location of the burials of many of the town's early settlers. The oldest original gravestone is for Thomas Barnes (1602-1672). Here are some photos I have taken on these walks. Hingham has a population of approximately 20,000 and covers an area of 22.5 square miles. The town has one high school, one middle school, and three elementary schools. The town government is administered by a board of selectmen and we have open town meetings where residents can speak publicly on issues before they are voted on.

 Hingham photos

	... Some scenic postcards ...			An old cape	Historical photos	Main Street	Hingham Square
	July 4th parade	Crow Point Kazoo Band	July 4, 2002 parade movie	Boats on the dock	Our Santa	Bob Beal & James Earl Jones

Town website postcard gallery
Hingham High Alumni Photo Gallery
Hingham Real Estate Center – take the tour on this site for some great photos
     July 4th, 2002, parade movie
Webshots Community - Hingham – many winter shots
WATD 411 – radio station website has nice Hingham photos and lots of town info


 Commuter boat

One of the things that makes Hingham an especially appealing suburban-Boston location to live in is the commuter boat service. Like many Hingham residents, I work in the city and I have a pleasant (and sometimes thrilling!) half-hour boat ride to work every day. As Boston commutes go, this is one of the best, especially in the summer. The Boston Globe did a comparison of commuting from the South Shore by car, boat, train, and Red Line, and not surpisingly, the boat came out on top. Whenever I am asked what it is like taking the boat in the winter, I reply that the boats are heated in winter and air-conditioned in summer, and of course, if you prefer you can ride outside year-round. There was a nice article about riding the commuter boat in the Boston Globe, "Commuters flock down to the sea" 2. There is also boat access to the Boston Harbor Islands from the Hingham shipyard on Route 3A.

Boston Harbor Cruises – commuter boat service, harbor cruises, whale watches
     The commuter boat schedule
     A virtual tour of one of the commuter boats

 Hingham distinctions

   These are some of the town's claims to fame. See the History page on the town website for more.

• Hingham was incorporated in 1635 as the 12th town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• The Old Ship Church (more photos), built in 1681, is the oldest meetinghouse in the country in continuous use as a place of worship.
  - the Old Ship Parish House was used in the 1987 movie "The Witches of Eastwick"
• In 1781 General Benjamin Lincoln of Hingham accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, the last battle of the American Revolution.
• Derby Academy was established in 1784 as the first coeducational school in the nation.
• John D. Long of Hingham became governor of Massachusetts in 1880 and Secretary of the Navy in 1897.
• Boy Scouts of America Troup One, formed in Hingham in 1911, is the oldest scout troup in the country.
• In 1945 World's End was proposed as the site of the United Nations Headquarters (fortunately it was not selected!).
• In 2007 a national magazine (unfortunately I forget which one) rated Hingham as having the best commute in the entire U.S.!

Click to play

The neighbors' garage burned down one night destroying 4 cars. Jim the owner made this video (". . . in your own backyard! Holy smokes!") with appropriate music and I uploaded it to YouTube. They are talking to an architect about rebuilding it.

Before fire

Bud and Patricia Kenny and their mule Della are touring America on foot. They spent a year in Hingham, camped out on Peter Hersey's farm on Hersey Street. If you are from around here you may have seen Bud walking Della on the streets. They have moved on, including a visit to Manhattan. Bud has written a book about their travels and is looking for a publisher.

Hingham Journal article

UsOnFoot.com

Whistlewood Farm

The Greenbush branch of the Old Colony  Railroad has been restored to the South Shore and goes right through Hingham. For several years I had a big anti-train section on this page, based mostly on safety, health, and environmental concerns, but rather than come across with sour grapes after the battle to keep the train from being built was lost, I decided to remove that section from the page. A tunnel was constructed to take the train under Hingham Square (the CBB  Greenbush site has some photos during construction), but where there is not in a tunnel they have grade-level crossings at intersections with lights and gates, and they have built this ridiculous fence bordering the tracks as they wind through town. The Patriot Ledger provided a video tour of the train route prior to the actual start of train service. I can drive on a street that goes over the tunnel on my way to the boat each day (which will continue to be my method of commuting), I don't have to deal with the crossing-gates regularly, but on weekends and eveinings I frequently cross these tracks, and believe me, I don't like the safety concern I have to deal with now—i.e. putting my life in the hands of lights that flash and gates that lower automatically when a train appoaches in our whistle-free zone (all five towns Greenbush runs through — Braintree, Weymouth, Hingham, Cohasset, and Scituate—insisted on it being whistle-free). As soon as we have an accident (and there were several incidents in the first week of service) these trains will probably start blowing their horns regularly. So much for living in a quiet suburb.

Town of Hingham

Hingham Police Department

Hingham Recreation Commission

Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant

Hingham Symphony Orchestra

Bare Cove Fire Museum

Hingham 4th of July picture

Commonwealth Communities - Town of Hingham

Boston.com / Your Town / Hingham

Hingham Community Center

Hingham Downtown Association

Hingham's Rich History

History of Hingham

Hingham Historical Society

UsGenWeb: Hingham, MA

Old Ship Church

Hingham Cemetery

Hingham Norfolk Home Page

Hingham Public Schools

South Shore Educational Collaborative

Hingham Public Library

Old Colony Library Network

Derby Academy

South Shore Conservatory

Hingham High Alumni Web Site

Children's Creativity Workshops

Authors 4 Kids

Hingham High Reunions

Kids' Cabaret

Hingham to Boston commuter boat

Boston Harbor Cruises

Massachusetts Bay Lines

Harbor Express

Lincoln Maritime Center

Hingham Yacht Club

Hingham Bay Racing

Tide Chart Index

Boston Harbor Islands

The Launch at Hingham Shipyard

Samuels & Associates

Hingham Shipyard

Avalon at the Hingham Shipyard

Waterscape at Hewitts Cove

Hingham Shipyard Marinas

Sea Chain, LLC

Eat Well, Inc.

Square Cafe

Bertucci's

Chili's Bar & Grill

The Snug

The Ocean Club

Mapquest Maps: Hingham

Google Maps: Hingham

Yahoo! Maps: Hingham

HinghamWeather.com

Hingham Broadcast News

Hingham on Wikipedia

The Hingham Journal

The Patriot Ledger

SouthofBoston.com

Welcome to "Paco"

Webcam from The Ocean Club restaurant, Nantasket Beach

Webcam from the Red Parrot Restaurant, Nantasket Beach

South Shore Baseball Club

Whitney Wharf

Hull Lifesaving Museum

Nantasket Beach

New England Wildlife Center

Wellspring

The Weymouth Club

Patriot Cinemas

Northeastsurfing.com

Hingham1956.com

Hingham Farmers Market

Hingham entries in Urban Dictionary

South Shore town websites     Town websites... Abington Avon Braintree Canton Carver Cohasset Duxbury Halifax Hanover Hanson Hingham Hull Kingston Marshfield Norwell Pembroke Plymouth Quincy Rockland Scituate Sharon Stoughton Weymouth Whitman