A Local Perspective
What I Love about Living on Stockbridge Road
By Doug Calnan, Stockbridge Road Resident
Our Stockbridge Road neighborhood is fantastic. Most of the time we can walk out onto our porch and hear the surf on nearby Peggoty Beach. Sometimes the surf is just a soft faint sound as if we’re holding a large seashell to our ear. With numerous ocean born storms this past winter the sound of the surf was more like a constant roar!
It’s a fabulous neighborhood to raise children in. Just off Stockbridge Road on Vinal Avenue you’ll find Scituate’s newest elementary school, The Jenkins School, located in our neighborhood. Twice each day during the school year there’s a small parade of our neighborhood’s elementary school-age children and their parents walking or riding their bikes on the neighborhood’s sidewalk to and from school.
Everyone loves a parade so if you want a significantly larger one then every March it’s only a short stroll to the parade route of Scituate’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade. In walking up Stockbridge Road to First Parish Road, we always run into a few of our neighbors that we can then enjoy the parade with too.
If you enjoy history then it’s because of its colonial era roots that Stockbridge Road has been designated as a Scenic Road under the Massachusetts Scenic Roads Act. Originally called Union Street, at its intersection with Common Lane you’ll find our neighborhood’s picturesque town common which is more formally called the Training Field. The Training Field is where the Scituate Militia trained for military service in the King Philip’s War, Revolutionary War and Civil War.
With all its colorful flowering fruit trees in the spring, nowadays the Training Field is more often used by bridal parties taking wedding photos or small groups of prom dates taking their prom photos. The Training Field, though, is most often used by our neighborhood’s youth playing pick-up games of soccer, football and frisbee. Although you can sometimes catch one of our neighborhood golfers practicing their golf swing on it.
The Scituate Historical Society maintains two properties in the neighborhood. Just off Stockbridge Road on Meetinghouse Lane is where the original English settlers built their first Meetinghouse in 1636 and the Scituate Historical Society’s Men of Kent Cemetery is where most of these original settlers are buried. While situated at Stockbridge Road’s intersection with Greenfield Lane there sits a charming antique cape known as the Mann House. The Mann House is also home to the Scituate Garden Club’s beautiful flower gardens and its annual plant sale.
With its proximity to downtown Scituate and Front Street, our Stockbridge Road neighborhood is very conveniently located. From first-hand experience our home has always been a popular meeting spot for the respective group of friends for each of our three children. Just like her college age brothers before her, our teenage daughter’s friends will regularly get dropped off at our home. Then they’ll all walk downtown for either a Coffee Corner breakfast sandwich, a Maria’s sub for lunch or an afternoon ice cream cone at Dribbles or Nona’s.
For us grownups, last summer some of the neighbors got together to walk to the Claddagh Farm. Located in our neighborhood on Common Street, the farm hosted its first summertime Magical Moon Jam Music Fest. With a state of the art outdoor stage and sound system along with a full 12-hour menu highlighting various local area bands and musicians, it was another great way for us to connect with some of our neighborhood friends and we look forward to doing it again this summer.
In the warmer weather Stockbridge Road is part of a few South Shore biking routes since bicyclists prefer to avoid the busier main roadways. As a result, both large and small pelotons can be found speeding by in either direction on their bicycles.
Heading towards the Greenbush end of Stockbridge Road for those Boston commuters or parents who have son’s that attend BC High, the Greenbush Commuter Rail Station is less than a mile away near the foot of Stockbridge. Since this station is the beginning of this branch of the commuter rail, our two BC High graduates were always guaranteed a great seat selection versus those commuters further up the line. With all of Boston’s traffic congested roadways, the train can also be used for weekend trips into the city.
There aren’t many neighborhood’s that can claim having a microbrewery but the Untold Brewing at the foot of Stockbridge Road in Greenbush is the most recent neighborhood addition.
