Historic Overview :

Swampscott is a small and densely-settled suburban community of Massachusetts' north shore, located to the north of the City of Lynn, and to the south of Salem and Marblehead. The town's historic landscape reflects three key themes in its development history, its early years as a fishing village, its popularity as a summer resort, and its position as a suburb, connected to Boston by the train, to Salem and Lynn by the streetcar.

Within this landscape, early homes, dating to the colonial and early national periods, are very rare. Significant numbers of surviving houses appear first in the middle of the 19th century, but were shortly overwhelmed by the late 19th century overlay of residential sub-divisions. Similarly many of the late 19th century's summer resort development was subsequently overlaid and replaced by elite suburban building of the 20th century.

These historic themes have produced a landscape characterized by a contrast between housing types which were both quite small and exceptionally large. The former were associated with fishing and with commuters to the shoe manufactories and electric companies, generally located within dense neighborhoods.

The latter were associated with the elite summer visitors and the prosperous executives, on far larger lots. Over all is a layer of suburban housing, more generally of moderate size and sited on uniform lots, constructed through the middle of the 20th century.