Saugus, Massachusetts

Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the Greater Boston area. Saugus was first settled in 1629, Saugus derives its name from a Native American word believed to mean “great” or “extended.” In 1637, the territory known as Saugus (which also contained the present day cities and towns of Swampscott, Nahant, Lynn, Lynnfield, Reading, and Wakefield) was renamed Lin or Lynn, after King’s Lynn in Norfolk, England.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.8 square miles (30.6 km2), of which 10.8 square miles (28.0 km2) is land and 1.0 square mile (2.6 km2) is water. The town lies just inland from Massachusetts Bay, divided from the ocean by the Point of Pines neighborhood of Revere. The southern end of town is dominated by Rumney Marsh, which lies along the Pines River, a tributary of the Saugus River.

Saugus is divided into several neighborhood villages, including Saugus Center, East Saugus, North Saugus, Pleasant Hill, Lynnhurst, Oaklandvale and Cliftondale. Of these, the majority of the town’s population resides in Lynnhurst, Pleasant Hills, Cliftondale, East Saugus and Saugus Center. Oaklandvale and North Saugus are much less densely populated. The town lies at the southern end of Essex County, bordered by Lynnfield to the north, Lynn to the east, Revere (in Suffolk County) to the south and Melrose and Wakefield to the west, in Middlesex County.