DUXBURY /Duxbury Beach
Summer haven becomes year-round enclave

By TERI BORSETI
For The Patriot LedgerArea: 37.63 sq. mi.

POPULATION
2000: 14,248
2007: 15,294

Density: 644 res./sq. mi.
Median age: 42
Median household income: $108,611

FINANCES
Tax rate: $10.14
Town budget: $54.6 million
Avg. water bill: $491/yr.

HOUSING
Median home price (# sales)
2007: $638,250 (172)
2008: $592,500 (44 through May)
Median condo price
2007: $352,000 (21)
2008: $337,000 (13 through May)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 3,372
umber of teachers: 199
H.S. grads to 4-yr. college: 87%
H.S. grads to 2-yr. college: 5%
Median SAT score (2006): 1656

Duxbury Beach is well-known as a summer haven but for some, it’s a place to call home year-round. Gurnet Road is just off Route 139 and leads to Duxbury’s most northeasterly neighborhood.

It’s a small enclave nestled between the beach and the Marshfield town line. It’s a quiet neighborhood, especially in winter, but there are dramatic exceptions: the full fury of Mother Nature sometimes makes a visit.

Tom Schiebler was living in Los Angeles in 1991 when he learned that the “no name” storm that fall destroyed his vacation house on Ocean Road. He flew east only to find a pile of rubble including a few spindles where the house he had owned since 1988 once stood.

“We had a small gambrel here and it was gone – completely. We had to rebuild the house, and this time we built on pilings. This beach is really a barrier beach that will probably be gone some day. That’s how it is when your backyard is the ocean,” Schiebler said.

His two-story house is just steps away from the open ocean, and it’s an ideal spot in summer, he said. He lives there year-round now.

Locals know the risks that come with living with natural beauty and most say it’s worth it. Schiebler grew up in Newton and spent summers at Duxbury Beach as a kid. He has passed that tradition on to his children.

“When we rebuilt it cost $250,000. The lot is about 8,000 square feet so there isn’t much yard work to do, and I’m quite sure the house is worth close to $1 million now – even with this economy,” he said.

A four-room house at the end of Ocean Road is listed for $399,000. A house on the ocean-front side of the street sold for $699,000 last year, said Judy Jennings of Raveis Real Estate in Hingham

Caroline Dunham has lived on Pine Point Road since her parents bought a house in 1944. “We bought it from them in 1972 for about $9,500, ” she said.

The two-story house is part of the small neighborhood that includes Marginal Road., East Marginal Road, Pine Point Road, Ocean Road and Gurnet Road.

“This used to be mainly a summer destination and back then it was called Webster Beach,” Dunham said. “There are still quite a few residents that only live here in summer but over time, many of us have made it our year-round homes.”

Houses in the neighborhood range from one-bedroom beach houses to large family homes.

Schiebler said he has seen a lot of “tear downs” and some of them are replaced with big houses – but in most cases the homes have to be built in their original footprints.

Because the area is just 30 miles from Boston and offers striking ocean views, Jennings said values do not dip as much as other areas during difficult economic times. “Prices here can go from $399,000 up to $1 million,” she said.