Scituate Harbor, Massachusetts

An excerpt from A Cruising Guide to the New England Coast, by Robert F. Duncan written in 1937.
Thanks to the breakwaters and to the dredging inside, Scituate has become, in the opinion of many yachtsmen, the best all-around harbor on the South Shore of Massachusetts Bay. Except for the North River - and the 6-foot bar may be an obstacle - it is also the only good shelter between Plymouth and Cohasset and neither of these ports is as easy to get into as Scituate. With a heavy easterly sea, the entrance is said to be dangerous, but this rarely happens in the summer. The entrance is narrow and difficult to make under sail without favoring winds.
An experienced yachtsman, not from Scituate, wrote as follows:
Scituate is an ideal harbor for southern Massachusetts Bay, with good protection in all weather. I was there is the worst nor'easter you can imagine and it wasn't too bad inside. Excellent yacht club with good food and very hospitable.
The entrance is marked by bell bouy 2A. Go in south of this bouy, keeping clear of lobster pots. Once inside you would do well to stop at the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club, the location of which is noted on the chart. They have over 6 feet at the L-shaped dock and the launchman usually has a spare mooring. The club is glad to offer its facilties to members of other yacht clubs. As a former Commodore wrote us:
Yachtsmen from visiting clubs will find the Scituate Harbor Yacht Club - the officers, members, and employees - anxious and desirous of giving every assistance. The club has a swimming pool, tennis courts, excellent dining facilities, and conducts week-end dances, all of which will be found interesting to visiting members from other yacht clubs. The boatman at the club float will be pleased to furnish information to the extent of his ability, and will be pleased to refer any desired matter to the officer on watch at the club.
Gas can be obtained at the club, which also has ice and water. McCormick, near the middle of the bight beyond the club, also has gas and other facilties, and so does Dwyer at the pier just just beyond the Town Pier further up the harbor. If there are no moorings at the club or you prefer to go further, stop at the Town Pier and ask the Harbor Master for one. If you want to anchor and no mooring is available, he will suggest where to go. The dredged area beyond the Town Pier is snug and nearer to the business section, though it is apt to be crowded.
The Welch Co., Inc., has marine supplies and there are food stores and restaurants in the town convenient to the water front. If you want a hotel, try Craig House, Merrymount House or the Meeting House Inn. All of these are on the harbor.
The extensive dredging in the last two or three years has enlarged the anchorage space considerably. This makes less likely a suprising experience which one of the authors had some years ago, when the dredged area had an almost vertical mud wall at the edge, when the tide was low. He had anchored at high tide some time after dark when he thought he was in the dredged area. On awakening early the next morning, he poked his head out of the companionway and, looking up, saw his anchor resting securely on top of a shelf of mud, while his boat floated peacefully in the deep water. Unlike the usual process, this was a case of the hook dropping the boat.
John Young now has a good boat yard, located on the east side of the inner harbor in 5 feet. He hauls and repairs.
Scituate is the Indian "Satuit" or "Seteat," which means "Cold Brook." "The village suffered during the Indian Wars and in a decisive battle near the Stockbridge mansion was barely saved from total destruction. The War of 1812, bitterly opposed by the town, injured local business. According to a local legend, when an English man-of-war burned vessels in the harbor, two little girls, Rebecca and Abigail Bates, scared off a landing party at the Lighthouse Point by beating on dishpans, firing guns and otherwise simulating a lively force of defenders hidden behind a shed."
Not far from Scituate Harbor is the Well, about which a native Samuel Woodworth, wrote "The Old Oaken Bucket."