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Humarock (often calledHumarock Beach orHumarock Island) is part ofScituate, Massachusetts, United States. Humarock is a picturesque seaside village surrounded by water and situated onCape Cod Bay midway betweenBoston andPlymouth. It was separated from the rest of thetown in thePortland Gale of 1898 in which the mouth of theNorth River shifted. Humarock is now accessible from Scituate only byboat or from the Town ofMarshfield by bridge.
The common perception that Humarock is anisland is supported by the fact that the place is accessed by boat or by crossingbridges that span the South River. However, Humarock is clearly a very long, slenderpeninsula rather than an island as can be seen on aerial images of the area.
To reach Humarock over land one would have to walk through a large dune or Rexhame Beach.
The coast of Scituate is marked by four distinctbluffs, running from First Cliff on the northern end of the town's coast down to Fourth Cliff in the southern end. Prior to the Portland Gale, Humarock was connected to the Scituatemainland at Third Cliff. The North River flowed south between Fourth Cliff and Marshfield, joined theSouth River, and enteredMassachusetts Bay two kilometers to the south of the current opening.
A thin strip ofbeach which connected Third Cliff to Fourth Cliff was breached by the storm surge ofthe Portland Gale of 1898, separating Humarock from the rest of Scituate. Eventually the oldinletsilted in, forcing the South River to flow north between Marshfield and Fourth Cliff where it now joins the North River to enter theocean.
Although Humarock is now connected by land to the Rexhame section of Marshfield, there are no roads across the old inlet. As a result, Fourth Cliff and the rest of the Humarock part of Scituate are only accessible via the Marshfield Avenue and Julian Street bridges from Marshfield.
The change in course of the North River also increased thesalinity of the largemarsh in the area surrounding the current outlet, resulting in the loss of the valuablesalt haying business.
The name "Humarock" is often said to come from theWampanoag language and have had a meaning like "seashell place" or "rock carving." However, thisetymology can be traced back toEdward Rowe Snow, a Marshfield writer better-known for his imagination than his attention tohistorical accuracy.
The common belief that the name is a corruption of "Humming Rocks" (referring to the crash of thesurf) does not seem implausible, but historical records suggest that the origin of the name lies in the word "hummock" i.e. ahill near amarsh. As early as 1732 town records refer to the Fourth Cliff area as "Humock Flatt" or "Hummock Flats" and other variants. The record of ashipwreck by this spot in 1847 is noted as off "Hummock Beach." The Scituate town map of 1879 labels the peninsula south of Fourth Cliff as "Shore Hummock".[1]
Theshoreline of Humarock is characterized by the presence of innumerable roughly fist-sized, smooth, flattened rocks and these were even more prevalent before theBlizzard of '78. The name "Hummock Rock-beach" became "Humarock Beach" and finally "Humarock".
42°08′10″N70°41′26″W / 42.13611°N 70.69056°W /42.13611; -70.69056
