Exploring the history and highlights of Hingham’s beloved natural refuge.

By JENNIFER H. MCINERNEY

Photography by JACK FOLEY and TRUSTEES OF RESERVATIONS

s far back as colonial times, the 251-acre expanse of undeveloped land that juts out between Hingham and Hull Bay has been fittingly referred to as World’s End. Situated at the back of a wooded residential neighborhood that hugs the town’s coastline, World’s End encompasses four drumlins described as “spoon-shaped hills formed by glaciers” that spread forth and eventually spill out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rocky shoreline, open fields, forests, thickets, and grand lanes all coexist in this singular landscape, which culminates at its highest elevation with unsurpassed views of the Boston skyline, Hull, and beyond.

The Trustees of Reservations, a Massachusetts-based member-supported organization that protects and preserves 120 properties statewide, including World’s End, has no specific records detailing the origin story of the name behind this exceptional site.

“World’s End is a double peninsula that was, effectively, off the cultural map for early colonists,” says Alison Bassett, manager of the Trustees Archives and Research Center and a champion of Trustees Trivia. “No roads went through it to some other town. No house stood on it. No newsworthy event took place there. World’s End was just what its name suggested: an out-of-the-way spot.”

Fortunately for local residents, this precious parcel of land has been rescued multiple times from development and preserved in perpetuity as an everlasting sanctuary.