Has anyone moved from DC to Hingham or Cohasset, MA?

[missionhill]

My Wellesley cousins have always preferred Horseneck Beach, in Westport. Not a short drive but easy enough. Dunes, warm water, and surf--it's very nice. Freshwater swimming is an easy option in many inland towns too. Wellesley has Lake Waban and Morses Pond. Newton has Crystal Lake. Anyone can go to Walden Pond in Concord or Lake Cochichuate in Natick.

Boston Harbor Islands are a fabulous resource now that the water is cleaned up, and right at Hingham's front door--if you choose Hingham.

[clevedark]

About enjoying the water and beach from Brookline, what we did was buy (it seemed like a good idea at the time!) a house in Marshfield that we live in for July and August, and SOMETIMES go down for the weekend to visit.

Now it seems like a completely foolhardy move given the current economy....

ANYWAY, a poster above mentioned restricted access to lots of beaches. In my experience on the south shore there are three beaches with public parking.

One is Nantasket Beach in Hull, which is kind of honky tonk, but at low tide the beach is incredibly beautiful, long waves, just magnificent. Don't bother going at high tide because the waves lap at the sea wall and you'll have nowhere to sit along with 10,000 other people.

The other is Rexhame Beach in Marshfield. There is parking open to the public for 5 bucks on a weekday and 10 bucks on the weekend (?). It's a beautiful long sandy beach with waves, not too many rocks. You can even put your towel down on the sand and lie down, which isn't something you can uniformly expect from New England beaches. This would take you approx. 45 minutes from Brookline. There's also a snack bar and a bathroom. I think there's a shower too.

The last is Duxbury Beach. It's quite nice, too, sandy, long, waves. A more scenic approach than Rexhame. But I've heard the parking lot gets filled up often and sometimes even out of town residents who buy season passes aren't able to park there. But that was a few years back, maybe the situation has been rectified.

[GsDCtoBoston]

Thanks so much again for everyone's help. We have a lot to figure out and really appreciate your insights.

Best regards . . .

[clevedark]

No problem. Good luck with your plans!

[foozman]

I am not sure how anyone can call any of these places "conservative"...Hingham (I live there)is far from conservative. People have children and they are family oriented towns so you cant expect gay pride parades any time soon (it is coming im sure) It sounds like based on where your from and your artisitic nature Brookline or "Boston" might be more to your liking.

[clevedark]

Ya know, plenty of gay people have kids, too!

[martinedesigns]

Hi, we have just come back from a visit to the south shore. We are also relocating this summer, we looked at Duxbury but tooo remote and no town to speak of. I have a 14 yr old daughter and need shopping close by. We looked in Cohasset and Marshfield too. For our overall family daily living Hingham was our best shot. We have relatives in Marshfield and have different daily living needs so Hingham offered all that we desired, shopping ,restaurants seaside ect. Please let us know how your search went

[clevedark]

Hingham has lots of different activities for kids, and the high school is large enough to offer a good variety of courses and extracurriculars.

[Mom of 3]

You may also want to look at Scituate, very pretty coastal town which boarders Cohasset. Friendly and lots to offer. $ are a bit less then Cohasset, Hingham, Norwell but still very nice homes and schools. You will get more for your money there.

[Newdaawn]

If money were no object I would recommend Cohasset. I spent my summers there growing up at my grandparents house, right near the small center. I would walk to sand beach - less than 2 miles. I can't imagine packing up 4 tiny kids and heading to the beach from Brookline. In Cohasset you can go for a couple hours to their "residents only" Sandy Beach - come home for lunch and a rest and go back in the mid afternoon. If you find the houses there too pricey - Scituate would be my next choice. It has a larger population but is a very nice town.