From Plymouth Harbor northward to Massachusetts Bay is but a short
distance. Inland from the coast-line the land rises into the noted
"Blue Hills of Milton," their highest dome-like summit elevated six
hundred and fifty feet and surmounted by an Observatory. These are
granite hills, having the picturesque town of Quincy stretching down
to the sea, with a broad fringe of salt marshes in front. Thus are
named the "Quincy granites," famous for building, and it was to get
these huge stones out that the earliest rude railway in New England
was constructed in 1826, a line three miles long to Neponset River,
the cars being drawn by horses. It is said by the geologists that
these hills of Milton are an older formation than the Alps, and their
earliest English name, designated by King Charles I., was the Cheviot
Hills. Among the salt marshes just north of Duxbury is Marshfield, the
home of Daniel Webster, whose remains lie in an ancient graveyard on
an ocean-viewing hill not far away. Beside him are the graves of his
sons--Edward, killed in the Mexican War, and Fletcher, killed at Bull
Run in the Civil War. An ornamental villa has replaced his old house,
which was burnt, and the homestead has gone to strangers. Close by
Webster's is the grave of the early Pilgrim Governor Winslow, whose
quaint old dwelling is near. Quincy is famous as the home of the
greatest families of the original colony of Massachusetts Bay--Quincy
and Adams. The antique church of Quincy, known as the Adams Temple,
has in the yard the graves of the two Presidents Adams, father and
son. John Hancock, whose bold signature leads the Congress in the
Declaration of Independence, was a native of Quincy. It was among the
earliest Massachusetts settlements, having been colonized by a number
of Episcopalians at Merry Mount, who were such jovial people that the
strict Puritans of Plymouth were aghast at their goings on, and sent
Miles Standish with the whole army against them, and capturing the
leaders shipped them prisoners back to England. This severe treatment
was administered a second time before they were subdued. Thomas
Morton, who was among those twice banished, wrote the _New England
Canaan_, giving this curious account of the aborigines: "The Indians
may be rather accompted as living richly, wanting nothing that is
needful, and to be commended for leading a contented life, the younger
being ruled by the elder and the elder ruled by the Powahs, and the
Powahs are ruled by the Devill; and then you may imagine what good
rule is like to be amongst them." This theory was generally prevalent
among the early colonists, for Cotton Mather was convinced that "the
Indians are under the special protection of the Devill."
The coast, as Massachusetts Bay is approached, rises into the rocky
shores of Scituate and Cohasset. Here is the dangerous reef of Minot's
Ledge in the offing, guarded by the leading beacon of the New England
waters, about four miles from the shore. The original lighthouse was
washed away in a terrific storm in April, 1851. The catastrophe
occurred in the night, when those on shore heard a violent tolling of
the lighthouse bell, and in the morning the tower was gone, with all
the light keepers, the only relic being a chair washed ashore, which
was recognized as one that had been in the watch-room of the tower.
Scituate was the birthplace of Samuel Woodworth, author of the _Old
Oaken Bucket_. These shores are all lined with villas and attractive
coast resorts, and the noted Jerusalem Road is the chief highway of
Cohasset, following the coast-line around to the westward. Here
projects the narrow and strange peninsula of Nantasket Beach, five
miles out into the sea to Point Allerton, then hooking around and
terminating in the town of Hull, and making one of the most popular
seaside resorts of Bostonians. Farther to the westward, behind it, is
Hingham Harbor, the quaint old village of Hingham on its shores,
settled in 1635, having the oldest occupied church in New England,
dating from 1681. This most ancient church of Yankeedom is a square
building of the colonial style, its steep roof sloping up on all four
sides to a platform at the top surrounded by a balustrade and
surmounted by a little pointed belfry. Still farther westward, and
within the entrance to Boston Harbor, projects the bold bluff of
Squantum, thrust out into the bay, it having been named in memory of
the old sachem who ruled all the country round about when Boston was
first colonized, his home being on an adjacent hill. Sturdy old
Squantum was a firm friend of the colonists, and when he was dying he
besought Governor Bradford to pray for him, "that he might go to the
Englishman's God in Heaven."