Once a part of Lynn and Saugus, the town of Swampscott was settled in 1629 and incorporated in 1852. Located today in Essex County and the North Shore, Swampscott has become quite the affluent town with spectacular views of Massachusetts Bay and Nahant Bay. Swampscott is made up of three villages: Beach Bluff, Phillips Point, and Phillips Beach, as well as being bordered by the residential communities of Marblehead, Salem and Lynn. Over the course of the town’s history, Swampscott has been home to several notable figures such as the founder of Dexter Shoe Harold Alfond, C.E.O. of Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Inc. Charles D. Baker, Jr., civil rights activist Mary- Louise Hooper, Doctor of Internal Medicine and inventor of Pedialyte Gary Cohen, founder of General Electric Elihy Thomson, former NHL and Boston Bruins all star Barry Pederson, and former Buffalo Bills player Bill Adams.
Before being settled by the English, Native Americans inhabited Swampscott, which they referred to as M’sqiompsk or ‘red rock’. Afterwards, Swampscott boomed with a large commercial fishing fleet and other businesses started by shoemakers, shoe cutters, yeomen, farmers, and merchants. In the late 18th century, Swampscott’s fishing industry was given a greater boost with the introduction of drying out fish, which they used for cod and shipped all over the world. During the 19th century, Swampscott’s reputation grew even more with the invention of the lobster pot by local resident Ebenezer Thorndike in 1808. While the Swampscott population benefitted from the fishing industry, the area’s location by the coast also attracted another source of revenue: a summer community. The wealthy began to stream into the town during the warmer months, which spurred off the construction of several residences and hotels. Some of the hotels included the Ocean House, Hotel Preston, Hotel Bellevue, and the New Ocean House Hotel. The area was so well known and renown that even President Coolidge and his wife made a trip to Swampscott. Today, a number of the residences that sprang up are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The hotels were not as fortunate as all of them were torn down and even many of the large estates were divided up, which leaves only the imagination and past town records to create what once was.
Swampscott is home to a number of popular natural and historic sites. Residents and visitors alike can enjoy the town’s many beaches such as Fishermans, Eismans, and Kings Beach, the Tedesco Country Club, a number of small parks, Harold King Forest, Foster Pond, Palmer Pond, the nearby Forest River Conservation Area, and Lynn Woods. Swampscott’s historic landmarks include the Olmsted Subdivision Historic District, the John Humphreys saltbox home, which is now the location of the town’s Historical Society, Professor Elihu Thomson’s mansion that is now Town Hall, the Preston estate, and the Swampscott Fish House, which was built in 1896. In terms of the town’s education system, residents of Swampscott are served by four elementary schools: Hadley School, Clarke School, Machon School, and Stanley School, a middle school: Swampscott Middle School, and a high school: Swampscott High School. The town is also the location of Marian Court College. In reaching Swampscott, one can take Routes 1A, 107, and 129, as well as the MBTA bus and commuter rail. There is also the nearby Beverly Municipal Airport.
