Nahant, Massachusetts

Population (2000) - 3,632

Description

Nahant is a resort town of rocky coasts in the southernmost part of Essex County. Used in early colonial days as a grazing areas for cattle, sheep and goat flocks owned by Lynn residents, Nahant very soon became a maritime community with a small population devoted to fishing. Settlers were granted land for homesites but only if they also spent time fishing and smallboat fishing developed before 1640. Disputed land claims were the hallmark of the town's early years since the Indian Sagamore George apparently sold the same town site to three different sets of people. By 1657, Nahant was laid out in planting lots of equal shares for all residents of Lynn with the requirement that all lots were to be cleared of wood in 6 years. This mandate effectively stripped Nahant of all its first growth woodlands.

The town became a resort mecca very early on with chaises coming from Lynn. Visitors stayed in boarding houses or private homes and the first hotel was built by 1803. In 1817 a steamboat sailed from Boston to Nahant daily and by 1826 a stage from the Nahant Hotel connected twice a day with coaches running between Boston and Salem. Fishing and several shoe shops were the major businesses aside from agriculture and tourism and even up to 1830 year-round residents were very few. Thomas Handyside Perkins, a prominent Boston businessman, built a hotel in Nahant in 1823 which featured a bowling alley and by the 1840's the town was already celebrated as the summer resort of Boston's elite. Incorporated in 1853, the town was the site of the most massive hotel complex on the Atlantic Coast and the location of an annual regatta. By the end of the 19th century, there was a visible shift away from hotels and toward residences.

An era of skyrocketing growth began about 1870 and continued unabated for the next four decades with construction firms putting up hundreds of summer homes for visitors to the town. In the modern era, Nahant has protected its residential status and farming and industrial activity have disappeared.

It is located in eastern Massachusetts on a peninsula jutting south of Lynn and surrounded on three sides by the Atlantic Ocean. Nahant is 14 miles north of Boston; 98 miles south of Portland, Maine; and 232 miles from New York City.

Narrative compiled by the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

Points of interest

The World War II Bunkers. Located inside Trimountain, and East Point, they were initially designed to defend Boston Harbor and the surrounding waters from a possible attack during the war. During the cold war, the installation at East Point housed Nike missiles intended to stop a nuclear attack on Boston. The facility at Trimountain was for "aiming" the missiles.

Nahant Historical Society Museum, located in the Nahant Community Center

The beaches. Practically an island, Nahant has no shortage on beaches.

Northeastern University, located at East Point, and home to Nahant's Observatory and Marine Science Center. Martin Scorcese filmed the lighthouse scenes for his upcoming movie "Shutter Island" starring Leonardo DiCaprio here in the summer of 2008.

The site of the country's first lawn tennis game was played at East Point.

Forty Steps - A wooden staircase, originally consisting of 40 steps, leading down to a pocket beach found heading towards East Point. This now has more than 40 steps due to beach erosion.

Education

The Johnson School system offers programs from kindergarten through the sixth grade. We have tuition agreements for our children to continue their education for grades seven through twelve in the Town of Swampscott. The Johnson School Community will provide educational excellence in a safe nurturing environment that will challenge students to fulfill their potential, become critical thinkers and self-directed lifelong learners, and develop the values necessary to become productive and caring adults.











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