HULL /Green Hill
The ‘place to be’ if you enjoy the ocean

By MAUREEN McCARTHY
For The Patriot Ledger Area: 2.53 square miles

POPULATION
2000: 11,050
2007: 11,783

Density: 4,849 res./square mile
Median age: 42
Median household income: $58,846

FINANCES
Tax rate: $9.75
Town budget: $30.9 million
Average water/sewer bill: $913

HOUSING
Median home price (number sales)
2007: $360,000 (123)
2008: $385,000 (13 through Feb.)
Median condo price
2007: $343,750 (50)
2008: $449,000 (3 as of Feb.)

SCHOOLS
Number of students: 1,235
Number of teachers: 108
H.S. grads to 4-yr. college: 61%
H.S. grads to 2-yr. college: 11%
Median SAT score (2006): 1441

Tim Bergen has fond memories of growing up on Green Hill in Hull.

Fourth of July bonfires on Crescent Beach, kayaking in the summer and ice skating on Straits Pond in the winter.

“This was my grandparents’ home,” said Bergen, 46, pointing to the home next to his own. “It was the best place to grow up, and that is why we are here now.”

In 1966, Bergen’s parents built a ranch-style home on the lot next to his grandparents – the place he calls home today. Bergen and his family lived in Weymouth for a while before they moved back to his childhood home more than five years ago to help care for his mother, he said.

“It was always a close-knit neighborhood,” Bergen said.

The Green Hill neighborhood – spit of land, or rock, really, between Straits Pond and the Atlantic Ocean, on the Cohasset border – includes lower Atlantic Avenue, Summit and Driftway avenues, and Reef Point. Once exclusively summer cottages, now more than 50 homes hug the Atlantic coastline, offering breathtaking water views.

Many homes have been passed down from generation to generation and are now owned by families and professional couples, Bergen said.

Real estate broker Brian McCarthy of Hull, who also grew up in the area. purchased a Summit Avenue home a few years ago. “There are a few Realtors that live up there,” he said. “That alone tells you something.”

Green Hill is close to Route 3A, the Cohasset MBTA commuter train and minutes by car to grocery shopping, local eateries, banking and the South Shore Music Circus.

Youngsters attend Jacobs Elementary School.

“Green Hill is a huge area,” McCarthy said . “A lot of them were grand summer homes, but for the most part, are now year-round.”

Home styles include ranches, farmhouses, colonials and several grand Victorians; many possessing intricate architectural detail, covered porches and rooftop widows’ walks.

Many properties are assessed for $1 million or more, McCarthy said.

“Crescent Beach and Black Rock Beach are easily accessible,” McCarthy said, noting both are walking distance. “The line is literally drawn in the sand between Hull and Cohasset.”

Last fall, a 1900s farmhouse in need of repair on Atlantic Avenue sold for $325,000. The home has 1,500 square feet of living space, Bergen said.

Bergen and McCarthy have a lot in common, including memories of lazy summer days at the beach as kids. Now they are able to relive those moments with their own children.

“If you like the ocean,” Bergen said. “Then this is the place to be.”