Duxbury

Stops in Duxbury

So why is Duxbury on the Irish Heritage Trail, you ask? Well, along came the ship building era in the early 1800’s. By the end of the century, almost 1,000 vessels were built in Duxbury shipyards and Duxbury became the largest and most famous shipbuilding center in the world. Many of these ships brought precious products such as cotton to British ports and some of these ships upon their return carried Irish immigrants to America.

The King Caesar House

This Federal mansion known as the King Caesar House (120 King Caesar Road), was owned by Ezra Weston II, a…

Bradford House

Gershom captained the ship Elizabeth that brought Irish passengers to America in the early 19th century. His house is…

Holy Family Church

Many Irish immigrant parishioners built the first Catholic Church in Duxbury, 1910. Holy Family Church (now the Ellison Center for…

Miramar Retreat Center

William Henry O'Connell, son of Irish immigrants and Boston's first Archbishop to become a Cardinal, purchased some property in 1910…

About Duxbury

The beautiful town of Duxbury, located on Cape Cod Bay just north of Plymouth, was originally called Mattakeeesett (“place of many fish”) by the Wampanoags as early as 12,000 to 9,000 years ago. Shortly after the English Colonists arrived in Plymouth in 1620, some notable settlers began moving north. These included Captain Myles Standish, William Brewster the Elder, John and Priscilla Alden. With increasing population, Duxborough was incorporated in 1637. For the succeeding 200 years the town was a quiet farming and fishing community, increasingly populated by families bearing English names such as Bradford, Brewster, Prence, Smith, Stockbridge, Winslow, Winsor, Winthrop, and their descendants.