Massachusetts Bay

Massachusetts Bay
Bays of Massachusetts
Location	United States
Coordinates	Coordinates: 42°22′30″N 70°44′58″W / 42.37500°N 70.74944°W / 42.37500; -70.74944
Ocean/sea sources	Atlantic Ocean
Basin countries	United States

Water volume	ok

Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Atlantic Ocean that forms part of the coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Description

The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about 42 miles (68 km). Its northern and southern shores incline toward each other through the entrance to Boston Harbor, where they are about five miles apart. The depth from the base of the triangle to Boston Harbor is about 21 miles (34 km). The westmost point of the bay is at the city of Boston.

The northern shore of Massachusetts Bay is rocky and irregular, but the southern shore low, marshy, and sandy. Along the shores are a number of capes and headlands, and off the coast a number of small islands, especially in the entrance to Boston Harbor. The principal inlets are: on the north coast, Gloucester Harbor, Nahant Bay, Salem Harbor, Marblehead Harbor, and Lynn Harbor, and on the west, Boston Harbor, Dorchester Bay, and Quincy Bay (the two latter being part of the Outer Boston Harbor), and on the south coast, Hingham Bay. Massachusetts Bay is itself part of the Gulf of Maine, which extends from Nova Scotia south to Cape Cod Bay. Cape Cod Bay is sometimes considered to be part of Massachusetts Bay. Under this interpretation, the name "Massachusetts Bay" denotes the entire rectangular area of ocean between Cape Ann and Cape Cod.

Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site

The Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site in deep water off the coast has been used for ocean dumping, to dispose of munitions, dredged material, rock and construction debris and sunken vessels.^[1] Between 1919 and 1970 chemical warfare munitions were dumped, and after World War II hundreds of thousands of tons of surplus artillery and munitions, which are the majority of munitions washed up on shore. Most of them are inert UXO but occasionally they are live. Fishermen have brought a torpedo into Provincetown, Massachusetts, a depth charge into Gloucester, Massachusetts and mustard munitions into New Bedford, Massachusetts.^[2]

Other

Massachusetts Bay gave its name to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which is one of the two predecessor colonies of the current state of Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Bay is one of five bays besides Quincy Bay, Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay, and Cape Cod Bay that give the state the nickname "the Bay State".

References

↑ "Massachusetts Bay Disposal Site Maps, Open-File Report 98-344". U.S. Geological Survey. 1998. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
↑ Edgar B. Herwick III (29 July 2015). "Explosive Beach Objects-- Just Another Example Of Massachusetts' Charm". WGBH news. PBS. Retrieved 31 July 2015.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Massachusetts Bay". Encyclopedia Americana.
Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Massachusetts Bay". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

External links

Media related to Massachusetts Bay at Wikimedia Commons

"Massachusetts Bay". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.

Waterbodies of Massachusetts
Bays, Coves, and Sounds	Assonet Bay Broad Sound Buzzards Bay Cape Cod Bay Cat Cove Dorchester Bay Duxbury Bay Fairhaven Bay Hingham Bay Juniper Cove Massachusetts Bay Nahant Bay Nantucket Sound Narragansett Bay Orleans Cove Plymouth Bay Popponesset Bay Quincy Bay Vineyard Sound Waquoit Bay Warren Cove
Canals, Channels, and Straits	Blackstone Canal Broad Brook Canal Broad Canal Canapitsit Channel Cape Cod Canal Fort Point Channel Hampshire and Hampden Canal Holyoke Canal System Hypocrite Channel Jeremiah's Gutter Lechmere Canal Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse Madaket Ditch Merrimack Canal Middlesex Canal Mother Brook North Canal Pawtucket Canal Quick's Hole Robinson's Hole Salem Channel Salem Beverly Waterway Canal South Channel South Hadley Canal Turners Falls Canal Woods Hole
Estuaries	Annisquam River Back River Bass River Boston Harbor Buzzards Bay Fore River Mitchell River Mount Hope Bay Oyster Pond River Popponesset Bay Quashnet River Weir River
Harbors	Barnstable Harbor Boston Harbor East Harbor Hyannis Harbor Marblehead Harbor Plymouth Harbor Provincetown Harbor Rock Harbor Salem Harbor
Lakes	Briggs Reservoir Buffumville Lake Charge Pond Chebacco Lake Crystal Lake Follins Pond Hickory Hills Lake Indian Lake Lake Ashmere Lake Attitash Lake Boon Lake Buel Lake Chaubunagungamaug Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochituate Lake Garfield Lake Massapoag Lake Monomonac Lake Nippenicket Lake Onota Lake Quannapowitt Lake Quinsigamond Lake Rico Lake Sabbatia Lake Saltonstall Lewis Lake Little Quittacas Pond Long Pond Mystic Lakes Pine Lake Pocksha Pond Prankers Pond Silver Lake Wallum Lake Wenham Lake Whites Pond
Ponds	Abner Pond Arnold School Pond Barrett Pond Bartlett Pond Bates Pond Beaver Dam Pond Big Rocky Pond Big Sandy Pond Billington Sea Black Jimmy Pond Bloody Pond Boot Pond Brooks Pond Browning Pond Bullough's Pond Campus Pond Cedar Pond Clay Pit Pond College Pond Cooks Pond Crossman Pond Curlew Pond Deer Pond Dug Pond Dunham Pond East Head Reservoir Elbow Pond Ezekiel Pond Fairyland Pond Fawn Pond Fearing Pond Federal Pond Five Mile Pond Forge Pond Fresh Meadow Pond Fresh Pond Fuller Street Pond Furnace Pond Gallows Pond Glen Charlie Pond Great Herring Pond Great Island Pond Great South Pond Gunners Exchange Pond Halfway Pond Hardy Pond Harrobs Corner Bog Pond Hedges Pond Hocomonco Pond Horn Pond Houghton's Pond Hoyts Pond Indian Head Pond Indian Pond Island Creek Pond Island Pond (Cedarville) Island Pond (Plymouth) Jacobs Pond Keene Pond Kings Pond Lake Lashaway Learned Pond Leonards Pond Little Herring Pond Little Long Pond (Plymouth) Little Long Pond (Wareham) Little Pond Little Rocky Pond Little Sandy Bottom Pond Little Sandy Pond Little West Pond Long Duck Pond Long Island Pond Long Pond (Plymouth) Long Pond (Rochester) Lout Pond Lower Chandler Pond Maquan Pond Mary's Pond Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds Micajah Pond Mill Pond (Duxbury) Mill Pond (Wareham) Monponsett Pond Morey Hole Muddy Pond New Long Pond North Hill Marsh Pond North Triangle Pond Oldham Pond Parker Mills Pond Pembroke Street South Pond Pine Street Pond Quaboag Pond Redd's Pond Reeds Millpond Robbins Pond Rocky Pond Round Pond Russell Millpond Russell Pond Sampsons Pond Sandy Pond Sargent's Pond Savery Pond Sawins Pond Scargo Lake Shallow Pond Ship Pond Smelt Pond Smith Pool Snipatuit Pond South Meadow Brook Reservoir South Meadow Pond South Triangle Pond Spectacle Pond Spring Pond Spy Pond Stetson Pond Studleys Pond Thompson Pond Tihonet Pond Tispaquin Pond Tremont Mill Pond Triangle Pond Tuxbury Pond Union Pond Upper Chandler Pond Vaughn Pond Walden Pond Walker Pond Wampatuck Pond Watson Pond Watuppa Ponds West Chandler Pond White Island Pond Winnecunnet Pond
Reservoirs	Aaron River Reservoir Accord Pond Ashley Reservoir Assawompset Pond Big Pond Blackmore Pond Briggs Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir Fisher Hill Reservoir Fort Meadow Reservoir Fresh Pond Great Quittacas Pond Great Sandy Bottom Pond Haggetts Pond High Service Water Tower and Reservoir Lake Wyola Little South Pond Littleville Lake Lost Lake Miscoe Lake Neponset Reservoir Norton Reservoir Otis Reservoir Quabbin Reservoir Round Pond Silver Lake Stockbridge Bowl Stony Brook Stump Pond Sudbury Reservoir Sugden Reservoir Tully Lake Wachusett Reservoir Weston Reservoir

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