MARSHFIELD /Ferry Hill
A 'quaint little place' by the seashore

By SYDNEY SCHWARTZ
Area: 28.52 square miles

POPULATION
2000: 24,324
2007: 26,268

Density: 927 res./square mile
Median age: 40
Median household income: 76,376

FINANCES
Tax rate (2007): $8.14
Town budget: $70.2 million
Avg. water/sewer bill: $690/year

HOUSING
Median home price (# sales)
2007: $390,000 (253)
2008: $380,000 (59 through April)
Median condo price
2007: $217,500 (47)
2008: $215,000 (17 through April)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 4,692
Number of teachers: 347
H.S. grads to 4-yr. college: 75%
H.S. grads to 2-yr. college: 10%
Median SAT score (2006): 1559

Forty years ago, Barbara Brown and her family – who had lived in New Jersey, Connecticut and Wisconsin – decided they wanted to be near the water when they moved to Massachusetts.

So they choose Ferry Hill. And since then, they have lived their lives around that water – the South River and the ocean – becoming sailors, boaters, boat builders and lovers of nature.

“We looked at property from the North Shore all the way to this point, and it was just the location that brought us here,” said Brown of Preston Terrace. “It was just a wonderful location.”

The location defines the area for many residents of Ferry Hill, which lies north of the Bridgeway Inn, by the YMCA, and includes Columbia and Carlton roads and Preston Terrace.

The neighborhood, set up on a hill, overlooks the river and Humarock Beach in Scituate. On a clear day, residents say, they can see to Provincetown.

Residents can walk to the beach, the YMCA, and shops and restaurants. Unlike other seaside spots in town, homeowners are unaffected by storms, aside from wind damage, they say. The area is also not riddled with traffic.

“It’s just a quaint, little place,” said Kim Reid of Carlton Road, who moved from Quincy 21 years ago. “When people come here, they’re amazed, like they didn’t know it existed.”

“It’s like you’re being in your own secluded vacation retreat, yet you’re close to everything else,” said Bob Fisher of Preston Terrace, who has lived in the area for more than 30 years.

Barbara Brown said the neighborhood consisted of small, rustic summer cottages or camps when her family moved in. She and her husband renovated and expanded their home. Over the years, neighbors did the same, creating year-round seaside abodes.

Real estate broker Betsy Hines said when she moved to town in the 1970s, homes in the area were selling for around $17,000 to $20,000. Her office recently sold a three-bedroom ranch at 138 Grandview Ave. for $437,000 and a four-bedroom colonial at 99 Grandview Ave. for $907,500.

“Now it’s way more glamorous,” she said. “The views from there, I think, are the best. You get the marsh and the river. You get the sunsets. It’s a special little neighborhood.”

Children in the area attend the Eames Way School.

When Brown and Reid’s children were young, they said, there were block parties, playgroups, Easter Egg hunts and Fourth of July parades. Children sill put on a Halloween parade.

“In those days, kids would go out and spend the entire day out on the water,” said Brown’s daughter, Christina. “Parents would just say, ‘Be home by dark.’ ”

“To me, Ferry Hill, the charm is that we can see the ocean from where we live, but we have the river in front,” Christina Brown said.