The Old Coast Road

Boston's streets and landmarks provide the starting point for a coastal tour toward Plymouth. Agnes Rothery approaches the city with affection and amusement, linking its food customs, libraries, churches and authors' houses to successive layers of local history. From the Common and Beacon Hill, the route opens onto the South Shore, with chapters devoted to places including Quincy, Hingham, Scituate and Duxbury. Shipbuilding, old homes, church life and town records all have a place along the road.

At Cohasset, the focus shifts from buildings and social habits to ledges, salt marshes and the forces that shaped the shore. Descriptions of estates beside Jerusalem Road lead into an accessible account of granite, lava dikes and glacial marks. This mixture of travel writing and local history suits readers interested in how a familiar landscape gathers meaning over time. The pleasure lies in the small connections between a street, a building, a remembered resident and the ground beneath them.