What is it like to live in Hamilton?

This north-of-Boston town was named for the Founding Father — and current Broadway star.

Ava Day, 10, warms up before a basketball game at Hamilton-Wenham Recreation Center. Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff

February 14, 2017

3 minutes to read

Named in 1793 for the Founding Father (and current Broadway star) Alexander Hamilton, whose image appears on the town seal, this community has long held a reputation as a middle-to-upper-class hamlet. With its horse-riding trails, fox hunts, and polo matches, the woodsy northeastern Massachusetts town may appear to be a haven for the privileged, said Selectman Jeff Hubbard, but it can claim an unexpected range of economic diversity.

“It’s surprisingly affordable, relatively speaking,’’ said Hubbard, who is also a real estate agent and has raised three children here with his wife, Julie. “You can buy a ranch or a Cape in the $300s or $400s. There are a lot of those types of homes available. It’s deceiving.’’

The geography is a big attraction: No major highways pass through the town limits, yet Hamilton has easy access to malls, high-quality medical facilities, and the shoreline.

Hamilton is distinctly family-oriented, Hubbard said, with a strong commitment to youth sports and activities. For him, the rural setting affords an abundance of outdoor activities, from hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing to swimming and boating.

“There are more than 450 miles of trails you can access from the town,’’ he said. “There’s a lot to offer.’’

Selectman Jeff Hubbard

BY THE NUMBERS

331

Score (for 72 holes) for 1901 US Open winner Willie Anderson at Myopia Hunt Club. It remains the highest winning score in US Open history. (Anderson and Alex Smith both scored 331, but Anderson was declared the winner after a playoff.) The notoriously difficult course, designed in 1894, has hosted the Open four times — in 1898, 1901, 1905, and 1908.

628

Number of musical instruments The Musary has lent to aspiring musicians to date. Founded in memory of late local musician John Ryan Pike, the nonprofit “lending library’’ has provided students with guitars, brass instruments, even grand pianos, to name a few. The organization claims to have saved borrowers more than $300,000 in rental costs.

Number in the 2013 NBA draft at which the Philadelphia 76ers selected Hamilton native Michael Carter-Williams. The 2014 NBA Rookie of the Year suited up for Hamilton-Wenham Regional High School before going to boarding school and Syracuse University. He plays for the Chicago Bulls.

1928

The year General George S. Patton Jr. and his wife, Beatrice Ayer Patton, purchased the Green Meadows property. He died in 1945 before his planned retirement to Hamilton, but his wife lived here from the start of World War II until her death in 1953. The property was gifted to the town in 2012.

PROS & CONS

Pro

Fresh air and elbow room

Located in a region that features rolling farmland, notable equestrian properties, Chebacco Lake, and the Ipswich River, Hamilton offers residents an abundance of outdoor riches (and a distinct scarcity of industrially zoned land) with a population of about 8,000 across 14.9 square miles.

Con

The tax burden

According to Hubbard, new neighbors are sometimes surprised by the “sticker shock’’ of the tax rate, with the town still paying for projects such as major investments in its school system a decade or more ago. “It’s something we’re working on,’’ he said. “We’re doing our best to address it.’’ The current rate is $16.81 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Pro

The town pool

Veterans Memorial Pool in Patton Park, rebuilt at a cost of $2 million, is set to open for the 2017 season.