Westport’s Horseneck Beach Was Known For Its Cranberry Bogs

Westport, Massachusetts is an agricultural community known for its family farms, vineyards, wineries, fishing and the ocean. The Horseneck Beach State Reservation is legendary for its beaches and camping.

Before becoming everyone's favorite place to cool off on a hot summer day, farmers would graze animals at Horseneck, according to the publication Westport by the Westport Historical Society.

"There are actually two Horseneck beaches, East Beach and West Beach, and they developed quite differently," the Society wrote. In the early 1800s, "many acres of Horseneck Beach were devoted to the cranberry industry."

The Westport Historical Society says, "Cranberries grown on Horseneck were said to be much better than those grown inland."

Cranberries.org says, "Tens of thousands of years ago, receding glaciers carved out cavities in the land that evolved into cranberry bogs."

According to the site, "Newly formed kettle ponds filled with sand, clay, and debris formed the perfect environment for vines to spread across the South Shore, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket."

For 12,000 years, the Wampanoag tribes harvested cranberries in Massachusetts. The English settlers brought their knowledge of the berries from their homeland.

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Cranberries.org says, "Cultivation of the cranberry began in 1816, shortly after Captain Henry Hall, a Revolutionary War veteran of Dennis, Massachusetts, noticed that the wild cranberries in his bogs grew better when sand blew over them."

The Westport Historical Society says, "Everyone participated in the cranberry picking, especially those who lived at the (Westport) Point." The Society says, "Local schools closed for two weeks each September to allow pupils to pick berries."

Until recently, cranberries were the most lucrative crop in Massachusetts. That distinction now goes to marijuana.