Gay Friendly South Shore Towns (Boston, Hingham: transplants, homes, purchase)

[SShorebound]

Hi,

We're a same sex couple couple considering relocating to the South Shore. We're looking for a town that's both welcoming and has good schools (Our son is 3) Our short list includes Cohasset, Hingham and Duxbury. Any insight anyone can offer for those towns would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[bluewatergirl888]

All beautiful towns with good school systems I believe. You should be welcome in any of these towns. Are you re-locating from out of state? Good luck and welcome to the South Shore!

[RESouthShore]

All of those towns have great schools - Duxbury & Hingham particularly. Hingham is very convenient to Boston with the commuter rail right outside of the downtown area. Downtown is cute - little shops, a small movie theater (1 screen, old fashioned type), and a couple of great restaurants. Duxbury is beautiful but is an extra 20 minutes or so south of Hingham which may or may not matter to you depending on where you will be commuting for work.

Good luck! As the previous poster said - I think you'll feel welcome in any town on the south shore.

Katie

[brsdad]

Welcome-you may wish to add Norwell to your list. Terrific schools, beautiful town, and very inclusive

[TheWereRabbit]

Those are the 3 nicest towns on the south shore in my opinion. Hingham has more of a downtown than the other 2 and if I had to guess I could see it being the most gay-friendly just because it's closer to the city, but I'm sure you'll do fine in any of these places. Some old money people but in MA those types are usually pretty socially liberal.

[baystater]

Originally Posted by SShorebound

Hi,

We're a same sex couple couple considering relocating to the South Shore. We're looking for a town that's both welcoming and has good schools (Our son is 3) Our short list includes Cohasset, Hingham and Duxbury. Any insight anyone can offer for those towns would be appreciated.

Thanks!

If you can afford it. Cohasset would be first on my list. Granted if you work in town, it might be better to look at hingham. Cohasset is where the money is at on the south shore. I found the town to be esthetically beautiful and the people very friendly. Hingham I spent less time in but found it was a nice town in general. I can't say much more than that.
Duxbury is a very nice and quiet town that I grew up next to (I'm out of marshfield originally.) There are some very nice shops there and your relatively close the the highway though the commute might be a bit much from Duxbury. If you work at home or don't mind/have a commute to Boston you may also want to consider Kingston I think it's a very nice town with a lot of little shops but also has a mall for larger chain shopping if needed.
Oh and all the towns meantioned have good beaches close by.

[GsDCtoBoston]

Originally Posted by SShorebound

Hi,

We're a same sex couple couple considering relocating to the South Shore. We're looking for a town that's both welcoming and has good schools (Our son is 3) Our short list includes Cohasset, Hingham and Duxbury. Any insight anyone can offer for those towns would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Hi -- Wondering if you picked a town, and if so, which one? We are looking at the same three towns. Would be moving from DC -- not gay ourselves, but liberal and looking for a good fit. Will be visiting in the next month or so, but would appreciate any input if you've selected a town. We also have very young kids (5 and 3, 3, and 3. Yes, triplets). Thanks!

[chrissyb52]

I'm a current resident of Hingham. We moved up here 3 years ago (and found several postings here to be helpful). I can't say enough about Hingham and the south shore. Hingham has good mix of transplants and locals and tends to be much less insular than a lot of towns west of Boston. It is also very family friendly with so many town activites geared to that demographic. Cohasset also has similar amenities, although not as much, as it is simply a town half the size as Hingham. One small beef about Cohasset is there are no sidewalks, so it's not as easy to stroll about with kids as in Hingham. Residents from outside Cohasset can get on the Sandy Beach waiting list to purchase a beach pass, and Friday nights down at the beach are a fun event. We also liked Hingham due to the shorter commute. We can walk to the train or take the ferry. The Cohasset train station, although just one over from Hingham, takes a jump in fare, since it falls in a different region, and communting to the ferry from Cohasset would be an extra 20 min to your commute into the city. Hingham is however experiencing a bit of overcrowing in the schools at the elementary level. A new school is being built, but there is doubt as to whether there will be enough $ to staff it given the current economy and Hinghams desire to stay AAA rated and not take on any more debt. Oh, and to the triplet family....Hingham is the land of multiples. You should check out the Mother of Multiples (south shore). Good network. I have 3 friends with triplets. Good luck.

[clevedark]

We lived in Cohasset for five years and I can't remember any same sex couples with children in town. We moved away three years ago.

[melmoves]

Not sure if you're still looking but I'm in Cohasset and know a few same sex families . . . one has triplets in my son's grade. Never heard anyone make an issue of it (kids or adults) and have never heard them express any angst about bigotry or any of that. It's a beautiful town and at the risk of offending the Hingham poster, I feel it's MUCH different from Hingham. . . we have 7000 residents, they have 28,000. We have one elementary school, they have 5 or 6 . . . Cohasset is one community, where I often here Hingham people refer to living in one area of another. . .there is more of a pecking order there and friends I have from Hingham agree. . . I have two neighbors who moved to Cohasset from Hingham after deciding they loved the gorgeous town/coast thing (which both towns have) but prefered the laid back vibe of Cohasset. Homes are pricey here, but you can get great bargains right now. . . if you have any questions about streets/etc., I'm happy to help! Good luck.