Transportation

The MBTA provides passenger rail service from Boston's North Station with the Swampscott station on its Newburyport/Rockport Line, as well as several bus lines. An abandoned 4-mile branch of the Boston & Maine Railroad originating in Swampscott serves as Marblehead rail trail.

The closest access to the subway is the Blue Line at Wonderland station in Revere, Massachusetts.

Swampscott is located along Massachusetts Route 1A and Route 129. Both routes enter from Lynn, with Route 1A passing north of the town center towards Salem, and Route 129 following the coast for a half mile before going inland north of Phillips Point and returning to the coast before heading into Marblehead. There is no highway within town, which lies well south of Massachusetts Route 128 and Interstate 95. The town is served by numerous MBTA bus routes which lead into the surrounding towns.

The nearest air service can be reached at Beverly Municipal Airport, and the nearest national and international air service can be found at Boston's Logan International Airport.

Geography

Located beside Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, Swampscott lies along a mostly rocky shoreline, though there is enough clear shore for five beaches; Phillips which stretches into Preston and is by far the largest beach in town, Eisman's and Whales, Fisherman's, and a part of King's Beach, which extends into Lynn. There are several small parks, along with the small Harold King Forest in the northwest corner of town and the Tedesco Country Club which bisects part of the town. The town also has two small ponds, Foster Pond and Palmer Pond.

Swampscott is mostly suburban, with most of the clear land in the northwest corner of town. There are three villages within town, Beach Bluff to the east, Phillips Point to the south, and Phillips Beach inland between the two.

History

Swampscott was first settled in 1629 as the eastern part (Ward One) of Lynn, and was set off and officially incorporated in 1852. A beach town north of Boston, measuring 3 square miles (7.8 km2), and abutting Salem, Marblehead and Lynn, Swampscott was an important destination for the wealthy at the beginning of the 20th century. While Revere Beach, which lies just several miles down the road, has the honor of technically being America's first public beach, Swampscott was the de facto first resort town. Lynn was the divider between the poor beach and the rich resort town. The name "Swampscott" comes from the language of a local Native American tribe, and means "red rock".

• Eisman's Beach

• Elihu Thomson House, aka Swampscott Town Hall

• Fisherman's Beach

• John Humphreys House

• King's Beach

• Mary Baker Eddy Historic House

• Olmsted Subdivision Historic District, located on Monument Avenue

• Phillip's Beach

• Swampscott Fish House

• Tedesco Country Club

• Clarke Elementary

• Hadley Elementary

• Stanley Elementary

• Swampscott Middle School

• Swampscott High School

Swampscott's public school system includes three elementary schools, Hadley School, Clarke School, and Stanley School, one middle school, Swampscott Middle School, and one high school, Swampscott High School. The Machon elementary school was shut down in 2008/9, but the property remains on the district's rolls. A new building was completed in 2007 for Swampscott High School.