Located on the oceanfront of the Massachusetts Bay, Endicott College overlooks the gorgeous Atlantic Ocean. The college extends along the shoreline overlooking three beaches, Mingo Beach, Patch Beach, and Endicott Beach; all of which are property of Endicott College. The awesome scenery, especially the sunset over the ocean, truly expresses the beauty of the campus.
“As Endicott bought property along the beach, the beaches became part of property to the high water mark,” said President of Endicott College Dr. Richard E. Wylie. The beaches are only owned by Endicott when the tide is fully in.
When the water is at low tide, the beaches are not considered to be property of Endicott because the college did not extend its purchase to that distance.
Beginning in 1939, as Endicott College continued to purchase property along the water, the beaches as well as the houses along the shoreline became part of the college. “We did not buy the beaches for the beach space, we did it for the houses and for the property next to it,” said Dr. Wylie. He added, “Fortunately, the beaches came with the houses.”
In order to keep these beaches beautiful, people had to maintain them. Before they were property of Endicott College, they were owned by Henry Cabot Lodge in the 19th and 20th centuries. Henry Cabot Lodge was an American Republican Senator and historian from Beverly, Massachusetts. He owned property along the water and he hired local citizens to maintain the beach with sand and keep it clean.
“All of the great politicians of the 50s had estates here so they would always have people raking, bringing sand in and working the beaches,” said Dr. Wylie. He emphasized, “But as they moved away the beaches have become more natural.”
The beaches are formed by pockets along the shoreline with a direct tide that transports sand from the sea level to the beach. People do not carry bags of sand to the shore like they used to do. The beaches are natural now, but the Endicott staff and volunteers are responsible for removing the trash on the beaches.
“Another reason why we purchased a high water mark is because anybody that is at sea can pull up on any of the beaches and walk across it,” said Dr. Wylie. This is called, The Bay Right Away. This law allows people to pull their boats into the bay and use the beaches of Endicott.
The year before Dr. Wylie became the president of Endicott, the school was filing for bankruptcy because they were renting out space and buildings along the border of the school. In order to fix the problem, Endicott sold off some of the property on the ocean and used that money to invest in a phone system called Z-Tel. They invested one million dollars into that device but eventually the company failed a year later. Fortunately, even though the launch failed, the failure still resulted in one million dollars worth of equipment. In order to expand on their investment, they decided to buy the property of Misselwood, Hawthorn, Wenham, Hamilton, and Birchmont. All of these buildings rest closest to the beaches on the outer campus of Endicott.
Each beach has its own unique name with its own unique story. Patch Beach, originated in the early 1800s is named in honor of a man who owned land along the beach and on the border of Endicott College. However, the founder of Endicott College, Eleanor Tupper, founded the school in 1939 and decided to name the beach, Tupper Beach, in honor of herself. Although, when Dr. Wylie became president of the school in 1987, he felt that it was right to change the name back to Patch Beach.
Endicott Beach is named Endicott Beach in honor of John Endecott, the same man that the school is named after. John Endecott was an English colonial magistrate, soldier and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The third beach, Mingo Beach, has the most unique story of the three. Mingo Beach is named after a young slave who earned her freedom. She told her owner that she could herd her sheep across the sandbar with low tide. However, before she was able to herd her sheep across, she drowned sitting on top of the rocks waiting for the tide to come in.
According to Dr. Wylie, in the late 16th century, Mingo beach was used as an escape route for the witches of Salem. This escape route was available for anybody accused of witchcraft. Those people would be sent across the bay to Mingo Beach using a path called Witches Lane. Witches Lane is the path located behind the Callahan center. It would lead them to the boats that would travel with the accused witches to the north.
During WWII, the citizens of Beverly and the students at Endicott were frightened that the German U-boats would be sent to attack the bay. The students were ordered to put blackout curtains on all of the windows. The blackout curtains would hide the students and the lights inside from the U-boats if there was a sighting.
Often times, the women would climb onto the roof of their buildings with binoculars to search for U-boats. They feared that the boats would be coming into the harbor to attack so they turned this into a daily routine as a precaution to warn members of the college.
Not only are the beaches historical, but they act as an escape for the minds of students. Sophomore Resident Assistant Hannah Goddard said, “The beaches were a big reason why I chose to come here.” She added, “They are beautiful places to go relax and do homework.”
“I think the beaches are a wonderful way for people to get away from the pressures of campus life,” said long time Professor of Business Robert Chambers.
In the future President Wylie intends to purchase more property along the water in order to expand the school, however, there is not much more beach space available for purchase.
The beaches of Endicott have much history, but the question is whether or not the beaches will continue to remain the same. The beaches will forever be owned by Endicott until the college decides to sell the property.