Issue Four Summer 2020

98 Little Nahant Rd
Memories by Chuck
I have always loved the sight, smell, and sounds of the sea.
Perhaps because of my Italian heritage and my fond memories
of family events being celebrated at the seashore.
The Nahant area became my favorite retreat during my
Somerville high school years when we discovered the tables
and fireplaces could be reserved in advance with just a
phone call. We had our favorite prime location most weekends
in close proximity to the old bathhouse where I enjoyed
my time at the beach with twenty five or thirty of my
closest friends.
Our favorite spot was located at the mid point of long beach,
and it was at one of these gatherings that I gazed up at the
point of Little Nahant and said aloud, “I’m going to live
there someday.” More than ten years later, I owned a business
in my home town of Cambridge. My wife and business
partner and I opened a second location in Lynn.
We decided to shop for a home on the North shore. It would
be a getaway from our busy schedule and a safe place to raise
a family. Our criteria was a water view, with a large enough
yard for a pool, three bedrooms on high ground. We looked
in Marblehead, Swampscott and Nahant for more than two
years. In the 70’s we didn’t have the Internet like we do today
and finding a home was much more time consuming.
We looked at dozens of homes for sale that advertised water
view and a large yard, only to find the water view was only
visible from the roof and the postage stamp sized yards were
too small for a pool. Some of the basements we saw had water
marks along the walls from when the sump pumps failed.
It seemed at that time, the only houses on the market in our
price range were problem properties with too many defects.
We were ready to settle for a waterfront condo in Boston,
when we saw an obscure ad in the Lynn Daily Item, placed
by an attorney selling what he called a “mini estate” for one
of his clients. I went to look at it with great hopes, but not
knowing what to expect, and for the most part I was disappointed.
It had ugly exterior stucco walls painted pink,
a broken garage door, old windows that didn’t shut tightly,
gaudy bright blue white shag carpet and was priced at more
than we wanted to spend, but the location was perfect.
In my high school days when I dreamed of living on this
hill I never imagined the amazing view I saw on that windy
spring day as the waves rolled in and crashed beneath us on
Long Beach. I could see Lynn and the Swampscott shoreline
with Marblehead across the bay from the backyard.
There was a clear view of egg rock, with miles of open ocean
beyond Big Nahant as well as the fabulous Boston skyline.
The air smelled clean and the sound of the waves crashing
against the rocks was mesmerizing. The full views of both
sunrise and sunset was an added bonus that we discovered
after spending our first evening in the house when the spectacular
sunset we witnessed was only bested by the incredible
sunrise the following morning.
We bought this house for the view and started remodeling it
that first month. We removed the ugly pink stucco, replacing
it with ceder shake shingles, we replaced the windows
and brought the home back to it’s original French cottage
style by removing some of the gaudy art deco changes made
by a former owner. In 2019, I created even more spectacular
views from inside the home, by adding windows in strategic
locations and opening the floor plan to allow unobstructed
views from all rooms.
Nahant Magazine | 14