New Silver Beach is a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from Rock (geology), rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle beach, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological s ...

and

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of the same name. It is primarily a

summer colony Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

and is the largest

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

at Wild Harbor, a natural

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

on the north shore of

Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing, boating, and tourism. Buzzards ...

. It is located on

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

's famous

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

in the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) of North Falmouth, in the town of Falmouth,

. The area was first settled in 1893 as a seasonal

seaside resort A seaside resort is a city, resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of an official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requi ...

for the growing

upper middle class In sociology, the upper middle class is the social group constituted by higher status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term '' lower middle class'', which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle-class stra ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

History

The original planned settlement was first constructed in 1893 as

sea bathing Sea bathing is swimming in the sea or in sea water and a sea bath is a protective enclosure for sea bathing. Unlike bathing in a swimming pool, which is generally done for pleasure or exercise purposes, sea bathing was once thought to have curati ...

was gaining widespread popularity in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the United States. The first street pattern resembled a star with four avenues radiating out from the waterfront intersection of Ocean View Avenue and Moses Road (then called Beach Road). Building proved profitable for developers and by 1898 Joseph Dahlburg and his Silver Beach Water Company had laid out the plans for New Silver Heights, an expansion of development in the area of higher elevation to the west of the original village. At the turn of the 20th century, the Brockton based Silver Beach Land Co. had profitably developed most of the existing plots and New Silver had gained notoriety as a fashionable destination. In the early 20th century, the Silver Beach Hotel was opened at the corner of Arlington Avenue and Wickertree Road. The hotel, though initially successful with the introduction of the

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

, went bankrupt and was subsequently sold and demolished. In the 1920s, numerous fashionable mansions were constructed on the neighboring peninsula of Nyes Neck and although many period homes remain, only two such Gatsby era mansions remain. The village was severely damaged by the great

New England Hurricane of 1938 The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great Long Island - New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express) was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike the United States. The storm formed near th ...

and rebuilding lasted well into the

post-war period A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, w ...

. During this time, nearby Old Silver Beach became the preeminent destination for the Upper Cape with the construction of the now famous Sea Crest Hotel. Though New Silver lost its regional fame, the economic booms of the 1980s and

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American jets fly over burning oil fields in the 1991 Gulf War; the Oslo Accords on 13 September 1993; the World ...

led to the rapid creation of new satellite developments enabling the area to maintain its status as a desirable location for holidaymakers.

Leisure

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Yachting

Yachting has a long and prolific history in the area. New Silver Anchorage was

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dams ...

from Wild Harbor in the 1920s to shelter

Beetle Cat The Beetle Cat is an American one-design sailing dinghy that was designed by John Beetle and first built in 1921. It is a smaller adaptation of traditional Cape Cod catboat designs originally intended for fishing in shallow waters.Sherwood, Ri ...

boats which had become popular among the

elite. Prior to

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilising ...

organized sailing flourished out of Wild Harbor, however

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

hysteria during the war led to dwindling popularity. On August 30, 1953, the Wild Harbor Yacht Club was formed on Wickertree Road to primarily serve New Silver and its constituent communities. The Club was incorporated by the United States Sailing Association the following year. A Widgeon fleet was organized in 1979. The club clinched the Southern Massachusetts Beetle Cat championship in 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1989. In 1990 the club focused its junior sailing on the new

420 420 may refer to: Science and technology * 420 (number), in mathematics * 420 Bertholda, a main-belt asteroid * 4:2:0, a chroma subsampling layout Cannabis culture * 420 (cannabis culture), informal reference to cannabis use and celebrations ...

class racing vessels which were already popular in

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. Wild Harbor is a regional powerhouse and dominates the north shore of

and competes competitively in the Southern Massachusetts Sailing Grand Prix. Wild Harbor has produced three collegiate all-Americans and a member of the 2000 US International 470 team.

Geography

The original village of New Silver is built on the sandy

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

of the

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

Wild Harbor River. The river flows in and out of Wild Harbor, a shallow natural

onto which the village fronts. The older village center is separated from the newer Silver Beach Heights by

protected Protection is any measure taken to guard something against damage caused by outside forces. Protection can be provided to physical objects, including organisms, to systems, and to intangible things like civil and political rights. Although ...

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

. The Greater New Silver Area has come to include the newer constituent developments of Nyes Neck, Seascape, and Wild Harbor Estates.

Wild Harbor

Wild Harbor is a prominent geographic feature in the area. It is a shallow, natural

at the mouth of the Wild Harbor River. The bay is formed by two

headlands A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

: Nyes Neck peninsula to the north and Crow's Point to the south. The mouth of the bay is oriented to the southwest, the predominant direction of the summer

sea breeze A sea breeze or onshore breeze is a wind that blows in the afternoon from a large body of water toward or onto a landmass. By contrast, a land breeze or offshore breeze is a wind that blows in the night from a landmass toward or onto a large ...

giving the harbor unusually rough surf and predictable but strong

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

patterns.

Silver Beach

The beach is located across the northeast shore of Wild Harbor between the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of Wild Harbor River and the

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

of the New Silver Anchorage. The village center abuts the northern portion of the beach. The centrally located Moses Road runs parallel to the water between the two public access points at the end of Ocean View and Silver Beach Ave. respectively. The beach is protected from

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

by a series of rock

jetties A jetty is a man-made structure that protrudes from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signif ...

. The sandy output from the Wild Harbor river continually builds

sandbars In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

across the southern end of the beach which form a vast network of islands at low tide. A deeper sandbar runs about ten

yards The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...

from the

shoreline A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

in an arc

parallel Parallel may refer to: Mathematics * Parallel (geometry), two lines in the Euclidean plane which never intersect * Parallel (operator), mathematical operation named after the composition of electrical resistance in parallel circuits Science a ...

to the rest of the beach and can be under between one and two feet of water at

low tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

. Because the beach is located on a bay opening onto the larger

, the water is unusually warm for Cape Cod.

Architecture

The village has an extraordinary collection of fine 19th century structures. Many of the homes in the older center of the village are original buildings or faithful reconstructions. The village center boasts exquisite examples of the American

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...

style popular across

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

before the turn of the 20th century.

External links

1893 establishments in Massachusetts Beaches of Massachusetts Falmouth, Massachusetts Landforms of Barnstable County, Massachusetts Populated coastal places in Massachusetts Populated places established in 1893 Tourist attractions in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Villages in Barnstable County, Massachusetts Villages in Massachusetts