On the Irish Riviera

Hough’s Neck, in Quincy, Mass., once a popular summer place for middle-class Irish-Americans.

From The New England Historical Society

“What better New England place to spend Memorial Day than the Irish Riviera? Beaches in Wollaston {part of Quincy, Mass.}, Nantasket {part of Hull, Mass.} and Hough’s Neck {in Quincy} have been popular vacation spots for Irish immigrants and their offspring since the late 19th Century.

“But {Greater Boston} South Shore beaches weren’t only for swimming. In Scituate, the most Irish town in America, immigrants used to harvest red algae – a practice known as mossing. There is actually a Maritime and Mossing Museum run by the Scituate Historical Society. Open Sunday afternoons, it is set in the 1739 residence of Capt. Benjamin James on the Driftway. Exhibits describe the Portland Gale, Scituate’s many shipwrecks, Thomas W. Lawson’s seven-masted schooner and Irish mossing.’’

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The Lawson Tower, in Scituate