I 7 O HIS TORY OF CO HA SSE T. 



latter was to build a corduroy bridge seventy-two feet long 

 across the swampy land where now the railway intersects 

 Spring Lane. 



The bridge was to be made of timbers laid on top of the 

 spongy swamp and covered by gravel for the use of hay 

 carts and wood carts that hauled these Cohasset products 

 to the landings at the water's edge. Loading places had 

 been ordered by the town Christmas Day of 1669, to be 

 set out by a committee* of five. 



There were at least two of these loading places at our 

 Cove, and the committee had also laid out cartways lead- 

 ing to them. Our present Elm Street skirting the great 

 meadow was probably one of these earliest cart tracks. 

 Another was laid out in 1675 on the opposite side of the 

 meadow, where Summer Street now meanders towards the 

 harbor This latter was lying across a salt marsh " where 

 the carts were formerly driven over in a narrow place of 

 the said marsh " reaching Gulf Island, north of the pres- 

 ent store of M. B. Stetson. 



These roads, constructed immediately after the division 

 of the lands, were of course utilized by the first home- 

 builders, and this bridge of John Jacob's made the cart 

 travel between Cohasset and Scituate much easier for 

 whatever farmers were settling in that neighborhood. 

 When this bridge was built a pond was in existence a 

 little way above it, and the meadow was fenced in, as 

 appears from the wording of the contract. 



John Jacob had to travel" over here from Hingharn to 

 perform his contract, and his remuneration was two small 

 pieces of upland lying in the immediate vicinity of his 

 meadows. 



Another evidence besides the l^ridge that testified to 

 the growing demands of the first homes, was the laying out 

 of a straight main thoroughfare to Scituate on one side 

 and to Hingham on the other. 



* Captain Joshua Hobart, Ensign Tliaxter, Edniond Hobart, Matthew Gushing, 

 and John Jacob. 



