F 



CHAPTER XXI. 



STAGECOACH, PACKET, AND RAILWAY. 



OR a hundred and thirty years the people who settled 

 in Cohasset had no regular public conveyance con- 

 necting them with other towns. There was no stage- 

 coach, so far as can be ascertained, before 1815. 



There were two reasons for this lateness in the means 

 of travel. 



First, we were a small community lying off the line of 

 public travel, because the road from Boston to Plymouth 

 was cut through by way of the old Indian trail a mile or 

 more west of us. 



Second, our location being upon the sea, we had an 

 abundance of sailing craft as a means of transportation to 

 the metropolis. 



Furthermore, there was little need of travel previous to 

 the year 1800, for this community was able to produce at 

 home almost the entire supply of its needs. What occa- 

 sional travel was indulged was principally on foot to 

 Hingham, through which town the King's Highway ran 

 from Plymouth to Boston. From Hingham a public convey- 

 ance could occasionally be had over the road to Boston 

 previous to the Revolutionary War. 



The young ministers who came to Cohasset when we 

 were a precinct, 171 7, traveled, as we remember, upon 

 horseback from Cambridge. How much hire they had to 

 pay for their horses we do not know ; but as late as the 

 year 1805 our townsman, Caleb Nichols, charged a dollar 

 and seventy-five cents for a " Hors to Boston." The same 

 old account book under date of August 6, 1800, charges 

 John Nichols "Hors to Hingham $0.42." 



