South Shore (Massachusetts)

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The South Shore of Massachusetts is a geographic region stretching south and east from Boston along the shore of Massachusetts Bay toward Cape Cod. It includes cities and towns in Norfolk and Plymouth counties.

Composed of a mix of bedroom communities, mid-sized industrial cities and (formerly) rural towns, the South Shore is known for being a popular destination of those who have engaged in white flight from the city of Boston, particularly Irish-Americans. Today, Massachusetts' heaviest concentration of residents descended from Ireland is on the South Shore.^[1], and six of the United States' ten most Irish towns are located on the South Shore^[2]. For this reason the South Shore is sometimes jocularly known as the "Irish Riviera".

[edit] Geography

The South Shore Coalition of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council comprises representatives from eleven communities considered the heart of the South Shore:

Local residents disagree whether the South Shore extends north, south and inland from this core. Some would consider three communities north and northwest of the above list, members of the Boston-centered Inner Core Committee, to be "South Shore": Milton, Quincy and Randolph.

Some towns and cities inland from Pembroke and south of Duxbury are also often included in definitions of the South Shore. These communities, chiefly located in Plymouth County, include:

Some maintain that the South Shore, and the "Irish Riviera," include all or parts of Cape Cod; still others say the Plymouth area is part of Cape Cod, not the South Shore. In some cases, the competing definitions depend on whether Cape Cod Bay is considered to be part of Massachusetts Bay.

The South Shore is distinct from Massachusetts' similarly named South Coast, a neighboring region to the southwest.

[edit] Miscellany

Many of the place names come from England, hinting at the area's former colonial ties to that country. The Pilgrims settled on the South Shore, and Plimoth Plantation is located there. People like U.S. Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, came from this area.
The South Shore gave the world Howard Johnson's (Quincy), Toll House Chocolate chip cookies (Whitman), and Dunkin Donuts (Quincy).
Route 3, the Pilgrim Highway, is a major highway serving the South Shore.
Most of the members of Aerosmith including Steven Tyler have primary residences in the South Shore.
Four different The Daily Show cast members have connections to the South Shore. Rob Corddry and younger brother Nate Corddry were born and raised in Weymouth. Nancy Walls is originally from Cohasset and she with husband Steve Carrell as of 2006 live part of the time in Marshfield.
Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys started in the Wollaston neighborhood of Quincy.