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Coffin's Beach
2 reviews
Gloucester, MA
Category: Swimming Pools
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Good Harbor Beach
21 reviewsGloucester, MA
Category: Beaches
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Lynch Park
10 reviewsBeverly, MA
Category: Parks
Wingaersheek Beach
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
14 reviews for Wingaersheek Beach
Best beach on the North Shore, by far.
Excellent slope on the beach so it's great for kids. Low tide sports a nice long sand bar running away from the beach into the harbor so you can walk a long way out. Short jetty/rocks for exploring.
Very pricey parking ($25), but you can arrive after 3 ($15) or 5 (free) and still have fun. Very crowded some days and they do occasionally run out of parking. Honestly, they could charge $50 and still get the folks here. Go early or late is the key.
I'm not really a beach guy, but it is tough to understate the appeal of Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. It isn't the biggest beach in the area, but that is part of its charm; it has more of a cozy vibe to it, and because it is fairly small, it is perhaps a bit more family-friendly. Also, the ocean here is a bit more calm than in other spots around Cape Ann, which is definitely a good thing if you have kids or aren't a great swimmer but want to check out the water.
It is expensive to park here, but worth it in my mind; and to me, the best time to go is late in the day, so if you opt for that, perhaps there is a chance you won't have to pay for parking at all.
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Impossible for me not to compare Wingaerhsheek with its sister beach, Good Harbor.
If you are coming from the South, Wingaersheek is easier to get to vs. Good Harbor due to the traffic. Wingaersheek is also a much bigger beach meaning it will be easier for your to park (but at $20, it's still absurdly expensive). As with Good Harbor, this beach suffers from the "no trash in/out" rule. Dear City of Gloucester: set up trash bins on the beach and make our f'ing lives easier. Jesus.
As a beach, Wingaersheek is very nice. A spacious amount of area to set up your stuff, but be warned, tons of people frequent this beach, esp families, so to get any sort of privacy walk down the beach heading right to find a more private area. Otherwise you are suspect to a ton of screaming kids, etc.
Water is equally as cold and clean as Good Harbor, but with little to no waves vs. GH. Wing is a good option for the north shore but stlil lacks the charm of GH.
I love Wingaersheek! And not just because Theresa C. is obsessed with it.
I understood immediately her passion for this place once we started wading around the shallow tidal pools, looking for shells and other things--both dead and living creatures crawling/floating around.
I felt like a kid again, watching crabs scuttle around near my feet, finding a really big one and running away from it because they look like spiders and scare me.
I got some really sweet sand dollars and seashells, too. Climbing all over the huge rocks was fun...Basically I'm 12.
It's not the best beach for swimming, since it seems no matter how far you go out you're still only waist-deep--and when it comes to the cold cold Arctic Ocean, I'd rather just be swept under and get it over with than to prolong the freezing of my lower extremeties. But I suck it up and just go in.
It's a nice little escape from city life, except for the $25 parking...that very much reminds me of the city. But everything else is just good clean seafaring fun.
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Far superior to Gloucester's most-known beach, Good Harbor, Wingaersheek has both a public side (for all of y'all outsiders) and a private side (accessible by boat) catering to the yacht-club yuppies of Annisquam. Needless to say, I prefer to hob-knob with the snobs on the latter half.
Yes, the cost for out-of-towners' parking is absurd (25 USD and forever climbing). For your money, though, you'll get the softest of sands, minimal marine life (seaweed, for example) and clear (but cold) ocean water. If you're instilled with the enthusiasm of youthful vigor, you can easily exhaust yourself climbing and crawling the rocky enclosure.
The misfortune of Wingaersheek is that -- for whatever fluke of ecology or biology -- the greenheads (dreadful little bitin' 'n' flyin' critters) run rampant. Moreso than at any of Gloucester's other beaches.
Wingaersheek's a winner. Try to make friendly with the yachties (they're mostly summer residents so it needn't be a long-term relationship) and catch a ride over to the private side.
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$25 to park at a frigging beach?
'Nuff said.
People thought this was:
- Useful (4)
This is a great beach for kids! Soft sand, very clean, lots of space to build sand castles and other creations. To the far right are some tide pools with miniature sea life to dig for and catch. We found a small crab, a mussel, and some small clams and sea snails. Bring your sifter, pail and shovel.
The water is pretty warm for the East Coast (at least up to about 1-2 feet), and there aren't any really big waves, so it's perfect for toddlers and up. There's some sort of rocky outcropping just under the water's surface, so you'll see people who look like they're walking on water pretty far out there.
It's $25 to park, and on the Saturday we went, the main lot filled up by 10AM, but they continue to park people up Atlantic St. Ignore the website directions that tell you to get off at Route 128 Exit 14, it's MUCH closer at exit 13.
There is a concession stand at the shower/bathroom area (which was just adequate at best), but line was really long, so we didn't even bother with that. There were a couple of shaved ice stands there too.
The only negatives: there are a very few biting flies, especially over by the standing water, so it might be a good idea to bring some OFF! In order to get to the beach, you have to go down a long, winding road which can be kind of a pain. We didn't have enough cash, so we had to go all the way back to 128N and go up to the Gloucester rotary.
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Hannah meet Wingaersheek; Hurricane Hannah that is.
My wife's family has an awesome little beach house a few feet from the water. It was a wedding gift to her grandparents about 60 years ago. It's a little wooden thing built from a kit and it pretty much hasn't changed in all those years. Actually, you've probably seen it. It's been in a few commercials, but the most famous one is the Kodak Lobster/Pet one.
http://www.clipland.co...
One of the great things about the beach is that it changes every year. The dunes move, sandbars get bigger and the scenery is always different. About 6 years ago a brick barbecue that had been long burried magically appeared in the sand. This year the little sand driveway at the bottom of the hill became a treacherous car eating pit that trapped not one but two cars, including my rental car.
Storms do a lot of this geological sculpting and Hurrican Hannah added her two cents while we were there this time. We'd been hearing about her for a week and she finally decided to visit sometime late Saturday. She made herself known with 90 percent humidity most of the day(My Seattle freinds when we say it's humid in Seattle we have absolutely no idea what we're talking about). Finally around 10 she decided to let loose with a good dose of rain. But it was the steady wind that woke us up. It shook the cabin so hard that I woke up thinking I was on a rocking houseboat. She opened a few holes in the window screens and threw a few tree branches across the road.
But the little wooden kit house, commerical star is still standing. I hope it stands at least anouther 50 years or so; I love my beach house vacations.
This beach is on Atlantic Street in Gloucester, not Atlantic Ave.
Directions:
Take Route 128 north to exit 13, turning left off the off-ramp onto Concord Street. Follow Concord Street to Atlantic Street, turning right onto Atlantic Street. Wingaersheek Beach is at the end of Atlantic Street.
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This is my favorite beach on the North Shore.
the sand is so soft and fine it's like powder, and it's got a lot of mica in it so it's sparkly and glittery.
The beach is kept very clean and for some reason always feels warmer than other North Shore beaches. They have a pretty good consession stand and showers and changing rooms which is a plus if you are traveling a long ways home.
The beach has a slow decline, so at low tide you can go out for a mile and still be up to your knees. You can actually bring boogie boards and other 'floatation devices" and just chill in warm water.
As far as I am concerned the beach is separated into 3 areas.
The best part, the Private side. If you are not lucky enough to know someone to get over there, you can always drive your boat to it (because we all have one of those) or walk over at low tide. It's around the big rocky point on the left. It is way less crowded, even warmer than the public side and goes on for a nice several mile long walk (with a sweet sandbar detour or two)
The public side as two areas. The nice sandy area when you first enter the beach. then to the right there are some great rocks and tide pools, marsh area and then a whole other sandy beach area. No one knows about the beach in the back, so no one is ever there! when the sand gets wet it's turns into quicksand and is fun to walk through.
There are 2 weeks in July where the blackheads get a little nasty and annoying, but nothing like at Cranes beach.
People thought this was:
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I give four stars for the soft sand, rocky shore to climb around, and blue refreshing water to paddle/swim around in. There's even a sand bar that you can walk to when it's low tide. I was fortunate enough to hang with some friends whose mom had a house off the private area of the beach. I felt like the token Kennedy. The residents there aren't pretentious though toward beachgoers from the public beach... as long as your not on their beach at high tide!
I hear it has a decent snack bar as well. You can drink beers as long as your discrete and it's in a cup, but I don't know if that goes for the public beach.
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Went there yesterday. We are not morning people so arrived in the Gloucester area at around 1:00 hoping that some of the early crowd had left to free up parking. First attempted Good Harbor beach, but no parking available. Then headed to Wingaersheek. The sign a few miles from the beach said parking lots full, residents only, but we wisely decided to ignore that. On arriving at the lot there were plenty of spaces. Perhaps the smartest people are those who arrive after 5 when it is free (I am pretty sure that years ago it was free at 3).
The beach is great, not too crowded. Wonderful sand. After the initial shock even the water felt reasonably warm. Good for little kids - we used to come here when my daughter was a toddler. Back with her again as a 20 year old - just as good both times.
I've motored through the Annisquam exiting the north side, always thought Wingaersheek Beach was on the left on Wingaersheek Rd. not Atlantic Ave.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's a beautiful beach. Hope I haven't ruined it for the locals. ;-)
If your there and see a 40' Catamaran "Windswept" sail by give a holler, we're friendly.
Fantastic beach! Clean, clear, seaweed free water. White, soft, sparkly sand. Great rocks to climb on/around and explore (just be careful...I sliced my toe pretty bad, but I am kinda clumsy, maybe some beach shoes?). Watch all the boats in the distance. Good concession stand with a variety of things. Showers, bathrooms. Perfect for families! We went mid-day on a Saturday and it wasn't that crowded. Plenty of parking....but, $25! I think it's $15 after 3 and free after 5pm.
