182 History of Hingham. 



over West Street, we turn to the right into Fort-Hill Street, which 

 passes over Fort Hill, about a quarter of a mile farther south- 

 west. The old name was Nichols's Hill, until, in the time of 

 King Philip's War, a fort was built upon it for protection against 

 Indian attacks, and the name was changed to Fort Hill. When 

 the top of the hill was cut off, the lines of the old fort were oblit- 

 erated. Near the end of this street, and close to the Weymouth 

 line, is Fresh Rivei;, a little stream rising in Bare Swamp and 

 emptying into Weymouth Back River. A small branch of this 

 flows from the neighborhood of Nutty Hill across Hobart 

 Street. The bridge across Fresh River at Fort-Hill Street is 

 West Bridge. The one over it on French Street is French's 

 Bridge. At the corner of Fort Hill and French streets is a 

 small sheet of water through which this little stream flows, called 

 Round Pond. 



New Bridge Street, which runs in a southerly direction from 

 Fort-Hill Street, crosses Fresh River, passes through Bare 

 Swamp, and skirts the easterly side of Great Hill, which lies 

 between it and Hobart Street. Bare Swamp was, like all mead- 

 ows found already cleared of forest by the early settlers, very 

 valuable to them, for the reason that such lands afforded for- 

 age for their cattle. In their system of valuation meadow 

 property was rated highest, corn lands next, and woodlands 

 least. How the present estimate would reverse this if a portion 

 of the magnificent primeval forest which the}'' found were yet 

 standing ! Bare Swamp, when they came, was found to have 

 been cleared by the beavers, and received its name from its being 

 bare of trees. Those animals, evidently plenty up to that time, 

 had by their dams across the watercourses, overflowed the vicin- 

 ity. This had, perhaps, been the case for centuries, at least for 

 so long a period that the trees had died out and fallen, and 

 meadow land was the natural consequence. 



Great Hill is rather a barren height, as are most of the small 

 eminences about it : but interspersed among these are various 

 little green and fertile meadows. Some of them arc under culti- 

 vation, others growing up to woods, which it is to be hoped will 

 advance up the slopes of the hills, thus increasing their value 

 and enhancing their beauty. The neighborhood is of great in- 

 terest to the geologist, exhibiting as it does, remarkable traces 

 of the occupancy of this region by the great glacier. Pigeon 

 Plain is a sandy tract of land between the Great Hill district 

 and High Street. It was in early days a haunt of the wild 

 pigeons. 



South of Hobart Street, and between it and High Street, lies 

 Hemlock Swamp. At the corner of French and High streets is 

 Nutty (or Nutter's) Hill, so called because the early settlers 

 found walnuts there in great abundance. 



Beyond High Street is Ward Street. The portion of this road. 

 Old Ward Street, which used to be a highway running nearly 



