Nantasket Beach is a beach in Hull, Massachusetts

Hull, Massachusetts

Hull is a peninsula town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 10,293 at the 2010 census. Hull is the smallest town by land area in Plymouth County and the fourth smallest in the state...

. The shore has fine, light gray sand and is one of the busiest beaches in Greater Boston

Greater Boston

Greater Boston is the area of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts surrounding the city of Boston. Due to ambiguity in usage, the size of the area referred to can be anywhere between that of the metropolitan statistical area of Boston and that of the city's combined statistical area which includes...

. At low tide, there are acres of tide pools.

Name

The name "Nantasket" is derived from Wampanoag and means "at the strait" or "low-tide place." Nantasket was settled not long after Plymouth Colony

Plymouth Colony

Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...

 and before Mass Bay

Old Planters (Massachusetts)

Old planters are early settlers and are to be differentiated from explorers and new planters. In the United States, there were many early explorers and early attempts at settlements along the east coast....

. Roger Conant (Salem) was in the area, after leaving the Plymouth Colony and before going to Cape Ann

Cape Ann

Cape Ann is a rocky cape in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. The cape is located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston and forms the northern edge of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester, and the towns of Essex, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and...

 in 1625. Until Hull was incorporated in 1644, English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 settlers referred to the whole local region as "Nantasket Peninsula."

History

In 1825 Paul Warrick established "The Sportsman Hotel" on Nantasket Avenue. Later, more hotels were built and steamboats made three trips a day between here and Boston in the 1840s Later, an amusement area

Amusement park

thumb|Cinderella Castle in [[Magic Kingdom]], [[Disney World]]Amusement and theme parks are terms for a group of entertainment attractions and rides and other events in a location for the enjoyment of large numbers of people...

 called Paragon Park

Paragon Park

Paragon Park was an amusement park located on Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts. It closed in 1984.-Rides:Among the amusement rides in operation during Paragon Park's history was a traditional-style Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel with hand-crafted horses, a bumper cars ride known as...

was built adjacent to the beach. This was closed in 1984.

External links

• Nantasket Beach Reservation, MA Department of Conservation and Recreation

Nantasket Beach Resort