While the Plymouth Pilgrims may have been the first settlers of the area, they were followed in no short order by countless other Brits, who set up fishing and trading posts that would later become the cities of Weymouth and Quincy. From there, small waves of Pilgrims—with last names like Alden, Bradford, Weston, and Winslow—were granted land and built houses in areas now called Duxbury, Marshfield, Kingston, and Pembroke.

Thanks to the efforts of extremely active local conservation groups, many of those homes are well preserved today—as is much of the shore’s natural beauty. Many of the towns maintain strict zoning laws mandating only specific paint colors for homes and stone walls instead of Jersey barriers, and barring chain stores in certain areas of town.

Of course, commerce still reigns supreme in much of the region. Cities like Hanover, Weymouth, and Braintree are home to plenty of shopping malls and commercial centers. But oftentimes just down the road a few miles is a town like Cohasset, with its pristine harbor, or Duxbury, with its quietly conserved meadows, scarlet cranberry bogs, and picturesque beaches. And scattered throughout all of it are homes built by those who first came over on the Mayflower, maintained by dedicated residents and descendants.