Marshfield, Massachusetts
town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States
Marshfield is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States, on Massachusetts's South Shore. The population was 25,825 at the 2020 census.
It includes the census-designated places (CDPs) of Marshfield, Marshfield Hills, Ocean Bluff-Brant Rock, and Cedar Crest, and shares the Green Harbor CDP with the town of Duxbury.
History
Geography
Marshfield is located on the South Shore, about where Cape Cod Bay meets Massachusetts Bay.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 31.74 square miles (82.2 km2), of which 28.46 square miles (73.7 km2) is land and 3.28 square miles (8.5 km2) (10.33%) is water. Marshfield is bordered by Massachusetts Bay to the east, Duxbury to the south and southeast, Pembroke to the west, Norwell to the northwest, and Scituate to the north and northeast. Marshfield is 18 miles (29 km) east of Brockton and 29 miles (47 km) southeast of Boston.
Marshfield is named for the many salt marshes which border the salt and brackish borders of the town. There are three rivers: the North (along the northern border of the town), South (which branches at the mouth of the North River and heads south through the town) and the Green Harbor River (which flows just west of Brant Rock and Green Harbor Point at the south of town).
The South River divides a peninsula from the rest of the town, where Rexhame village and the Humarock and Fourth Cliff neighborhoods of the town of Scituate lie.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Marshfield, Massachusetts” is town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Marshfield, Massachusetts and town, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2414159. VIAF identifies the subject as 151265587. The Library of Congress control number is n80034965. Authority coordinates are 42.092, -70.706. 3 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Marshfield, Massachusetts”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Marshfield, Massachusetts primary sources, Marshfield, Massachusetts archive and Marshfield research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Marshfield, Massachusetts”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Marshfield, Massachusetts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.