Hamilton, Massachusetts

Hamilton is a rural-suburban town in the eastern central portion of Essex County in eastern Massachusetts. Its location on the North Shore of Massachusetts provides easy access to the Atlantic seashore with its reservations, beaches and boating. The town includes many historic houses and pastoral landscapes. It also has a rich equestrian heritage, which remains strong due to the influence of the many horse farms and of Myopia Hunt Club, which holds frequent equestrian events.

Hamilton is closely tied to its sister town, Wenham, sharing a school system, library, recreation department and commuter rail station. The community of Hamilton-Wenham was recently listed among the “Best Places to Live” by Boston Magazine. Hamilton includes South Hamilton, which is that part of Hamilton that the Postal Service has assigned the zip code 01982. Hamilton and South Hamilton are indistinguishable from each other except for the difference in zip codes.

Notable residents of Hamilton have included both General George S. Patton (1885-1945), known for his exploits in World War II and his son General George S. Patton IV (1923-2004). In the years after the latter’s 1980 retirement from the Army with the rank of Major General, Patton turned a Hamilton estate owned by his late father into the 250 acres Green Meadows Farm, where he named the fields in honor of Vietnam soldiers who died under his command.