A Boston suburb of 20,000 residents, of whom about 17,000 are nouveau riche natives of Dorchester, South Boston, and
West Roxbury.
Located on the South Shore, affectionately known as the Irish Riviera.
The town's nemesis is the neighboring blue collar, albeit increasingly yuppiefied town of
Weymouth. Nearby
Cohasset and Scituate are demographically similar, but do not have the "obnoxious reputation" of Hingham.
Example:
The good...
There are, indeed, many Hingham residents are decent, empathetic, and modest in demeanor.
The
Derby Street Shoppes have finally brought upscale shopping to the South Shore. This plaza is home to the
South Shore's first Whole Foods Market.
The four best things to come out of Hingham, in no particular order: Route 3, Route 3A, Route 53, and Route 228.
The bad...
For those familiar with the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances, Hingham has the highest-percentage of Irish-American Hyacinth Buckets in the country.
Money doesn't necessarily mean class. You can take the kid out of Southie,
Savin Hill,
Fields Corner, but you can't take the ___ out of the kid!
Hingham, living proof that one doesn't have to live in Texas to be a wealthy, vapid-minded philistine.
Hingham has a disproportionate number of Toyota Land Cruiser and
Mercury Mountaineer SUVs, almost 100% of which have never been off-road. (Note: The parking lot of Derby Street Shoppes or the South Shore Plaza does not constitute "off-road" driving)
A Boston Globe columnist from neighboring Weymouth has, rightfully, mercilessly lambasted Hingham for its single-handed roadblocks in the rebuilding of the
Greenbush MBTA Commuter Rail line. This columnist, as I have, has taken pains to state that there are many Hingham residents who are just as indignant at these petulant prima donnas as other residents of the South Shore.
There is a Commuter Boat line to Boston from the Hingham Shipyard. However, most of the parking is allocated to Hingham residents, at a discounted price! So the option for Hull,
Cohasset, Weymouth, and Scituate residents commuting from the Hingham Shipyard is not always feasible.
Hingham, little more than West Roxbury with some harborfront views.
And, most puzzling of all, many Hingham residents mispronounce their town as "
Higgim." Hardly anybody from outside Hingham mispronounces the name of that town.