Duxbury, Massachusetts, about 40 miles south of Boston and 10 miles north of tourist centre Plymouth, is a charming coastal town, complete with a  sandy barrier beach, historic homes, unique shops and eateries, and monuments to its Pilgrim settlers.  (Like many beautiful Boston suburbs, the intrustion of yuppie snobbery with its McMansions and vision of an ever more generic America has been creeping into Duxbury steadily, but mercifully far more slowly than in Boston’s western suburbs.)

The best way to enjoy Duxbury is to grab a good book, a bathing suit, and a bicycle on a warm summer day.  Follow this itinerary to a have a great day of exploring and to recreate a day in my middle school life.

Park near the High Street United Methodist Church, an old wooden, white clapboard New England church, on the corner of High Street and Taylor Street on the Duxbury/Pembroke town line.  Bicycle east down High Street through woods and past Cranberry bogs.  Turn right onto Summer Street and then immediately right onto Franklin.  Turn left onto Valley Street.  A small dirt parking lot on the right will mark the entrance to the Duxbury portion of the Bay Circuit Trail, a walking/mountain biking path that will wind through the woods, ponds, swamps, and Cranberry bogs of Duxbury.  Follow the trail markers through conservation lands and short detours onto paved roads, to Bay Farm Field.

Bay Farm is a park made out of a former farm left fallow and mowed once or twice annually.  Across the street from Bay Farm on Loring Street, just a stone’s throw into the town of Kingston is a great farm stand.  On the east side of the road is a marker for the 42^nd parallel.

The main field of the park is excellent for kite flying on windy days.  At the east end of the park is Kingston bay.  There are great shade trees and rock ledges for reading or writing angsty pre-teen poetry.  At low tide, there are tide pools that are great for observing skates and sea stars.  Sitting on the water on the rocks is a great place to watch sailboats, kayaks, and scan the shoreline to see mansions, Plymouth’s long defunct rope factories, and the Myles Standish Monument.

After resting up at Bay Farm, take Loring Street north to the first intersection and turn right onto Bay Road.  Soon you will reach Hall’s Corner, Duxbury’s quaint attempt at a downtown.  Peruse shops at your leisure.  Grab a snack at the convenience store, which although not in fact a Cumberland Farms for nearly twenty years, is referred to as “Cumby’s” by committed nostalgic townies, or a cheap, quick lunch at Duxbury Pizza.  At the Hall’s Corner traffic circle, turn right onto Standish Street.  Bear right onto Crescent Street and follow signs for the Standish Monument, a tower topped by a statue of one of Duxbury’s founding Pilgrim residents, Captian Myles Standish.  Climb up the monument for great views of the bay and Duxbury Beach.

When leaving the monument, turn left onto Crescent street, which will loop back into Standish Street.  A great detour off of Standish Street is to turn right onto Marshall Street and follow signs to the Myles Standish homesite.  Some great coastal marsh views are in this detour.  Return to Hall’s corner by taking a right back onto Standish Street.  At the traffic circle, turn right onto Washington Street.

The ride down Washington Street goes past some of Duxbury’s stateliest old homes and manicured gardens and the beautiful Congregationalist and Episcopalian churches.  On your right, you may be distracted by the smells of French Memories bakery.  Give in and get yourself some hot croissants.

At the flag pole in the middle of the road, bear right onto Powder Point Road and the bear right again onto King Caesar Road.  Here you will see some of Duxbury’s finest oceanfront properties, including the King Caeser House, which is often open for tours.

At the end of King Caser Road you will come to the Powder Point Bridge, a spectacular wooden bridge across Duxbury Harbor to Duxbury Beach.  At the beach, take some time to cool off!  The Harbor Side is popular with kayakers and windsurfers.  It can be a bit muddy on the bottom, but is generally warmer and calmer than the ocean side.  Tread gently, and on defined paths, across the dunes to the beach.  At high tide, Duxbury Beach is a bit rocky, but at low tide it is spectacular.  Wide sand, perfect for sand castles and with shallow pools and rivers that are great for playing at the beach with small children.  The truly motivated walkers/bicyclists, can enjoy increasing privacy and calm by journeying south along the beach.  On clear days, you can see across Cape Cod Bay to Provincetown.

At the end of your beach time, cross the bridge and then bear right onto Powder Point Road, for the less scenic shortcut back.  At the flag pole, bear right onto Saint George Street.  After the sports fields, turn left onto Alden Street to visit the John Alden House, home of Mayflower’s ship’s cooper who was another of Duxbury’s Pilgrim settlers.  The small, but impressive, Art Complex Museum is also on Alden Street.  Go north onto Railroad Street to get back to Saint George Street, where you will see Farfar’s Ice Cream, home of the best ice, homemade ice cream in Massachusetts.  Their peppermint patty is especially amazing.  Next door is Once Upon a Time, a great toy store specializing in the old fashioned and educational.

Take the easy, paved way back to your car, past some more small ponds, cranberry bogs, and farmstands, by heading west on Saint George, also known as 14 West.  Follow signs for Route 14.  Shortly after the highway overpass, bear left onto King Phillips Path and follow that unti it becomes Cross Street.  At the end of Cross Street.  Turn right onto Summer Street.  In about a half mile bear left onto High Street.  Follow back to the Methodist Church.