SCITUATE /Gilson Road
From summer cottages to year-round homes

By KAITLIN KEANE
The Patriot Ledger Area: 17.07 sq. mi.

POPULATION
2000: 17,863
2007: 18,288

Median household income: $87,066

FINANCES
Tax rate: $9.22
Town budget: $52.9 million
Average water/sewer bill: $333/$540

HOUSING
Median home price (# sales)
2007: $500,000 (211)
2008: $439,000 (149 through August)
Median condo price
2007: $427,825 (36)
2008: $368,000 (19 through August)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 3,228
Number of teachers: 242
H.S. grads to 4-yr. college: 87%
H.S. grads to 2-yr. college: 3%
Median SAT score (2007): 1586

After spending nearly a half century on Gilson Road, Carol Short has seen things come full circle. The modest homes that were once seasonal cottages – used only for long summers on Third Cliff – have been torn down to make way for larger year-round homes.

The large families who kept the streets populated with kids on warm summer evenings – then grew up and moved on – are back as many of them inheriting the homes they grew up in.

“It’s a new cycle here,” said Short, who has lived 48 years in her Gilson Road home. “Young people are moving in and inheriting the houses. It’s nice to have kids back in the neighborhood.”

Short’s daughter and grandchildren recently moved in with her. Like many families have done, she plans to put an addition on the home.

Short and her late husband grew up in Scituate and decided to stay close to home when they began looking for homes several decades ago.

“I was looking in Duxbury and Cohasset,” she said. “He said ‘You can look wherever you want, but I’m not leaving the cliff.’ ”

At the time they bought, location was key, and Gilson Road put the best of Scituate at their fingertips, she said. The road is a short walk from Front Street and the harbor area, and now a quick trip from the Greenbush commuter rail train. She could also walk to Peggotty Beach or Rivermore, otherwise known as The Spit.

The secluded slip of sand at the mouth of the North and South rivers is accessible only by boat or over a wooden boardwalk through the marsh from Third Cliff.

Because parking is not allowed at the entrance, Gilson Road homeowners have the unique advantage of being able to access the secluded beach on foot.

The three-quarter mile stretch of Gilson Road extends from Kent Street to Driftway, making up a significant portion of one of Scituate’s cliff neighborhoods.

Many of the homes have their backs to the water, but the height offers a view without the storm stress that typically accompanies a Scituate beach house.

Homes typically sell for around $1 million, said Elaine Bongarzone, a broker at Jack Conway Realty in Scituate.

“It’s the address,” Bongarzone said. “There are not many homes on the water that go for less than $1 million.”

Yet more reasonable price tags can still be found along the road. Sales this year ranged from $339,000 to $1,115,000, she said.

The new dynamic has made a quiet, friendly neighborhood a little livelier, Short said. While most residents work all day, gaggles of children and young parents can be seen at bus stops in the morning, and neighbors are always walking in the evening and chatting on well-manicured lawns after work.

“We have great neighbors who are there if you need them,” she said. “The neighborhood has changed but it’s kept its roots.”