Weymouth Back River

Overview

The Weymouth Back River, sometimes called Back River, is a short, primarily tidal river in Hingham and Weymouth, Massachusetts, about 10 miles south of Boston. It arises from a number of tributaries in ponds and swamps, most notably Whitman's Pond, flows northward, and empties into Hingham Bay (just south of Grape Island and Slate Island).

The river formed as the last glacier retreated from New England about 12,000 years ago, when glacial melting increased the sea level and lowlying coastal areas were flooded. Its river herring runs were an important source of food to both native and European inhabitants, and it served as the Hingham-Weymouth boundary as early as 1635. Various industries have used the river, including a steel mill, wool factory, and fertilizer factory. During the 20th century, the Army Corps of Engineers conducted two projects on the river, completed in 1912 and 1943. The first created a large channel (12 feet deep, 200 feet wide) from the river mouth to a former fertilizer company wharf, about one mile upstream. The second deepened the channel to 15 feet.

The Weymouth back River offers an outstanding canoe and kayak paddling resource within the Greater Boston Metropolitan Area. Harbormasters from Hingham and Weymouth established the river as a no-wake zone, with no water-skiing and no personal watercraft allowed south of the Route 3A Bridge.

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