In Hull, the Carousel Closes and the Sauna Stays: How Nantasket Changes Hands for Winter

On Tuesday, October 13, a wood-fired sauna on the sand at Nantasket Beach starts a new license. That license runs to April 30, 2027. Twelve days later, on October 25, the Paragon Carousel closes for the year. In between, the Hull Lifesaving Museum fills the calendar with a pumpkin trail, a rowing race and an evening event. After the carousel goes dark, the sauna on the beach and the museum at Hull Gut carry the peninsula's winter schedule.

The Beach Got a Winter License

Respiro Sauna Co. opened in July. It's a freestanding mobile sauna run by Hingham resident Karen LaFond. In late September, The Patriot Ledger reported that she planned to keep it running through the fall and winter instead of treating it as a summer popup. The Hull Redevelopment Authority made that official at its October 5 meeting. The Hull Times reported that the board accepted her $1,250 bid, the only one it received for the winter vendor concession. It covers October 13 through April 30, 2027, and picks up the day after her summer license expired on October 12.

The cold plunge here is the Atlantic. The Patriot Ledger's photo gallery shows guests going back and forth between the heat and a dip in the ocean. A WBZ NewsRadio piece listed $40 for a 50-minute session, with mornings from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. and some evening slots Wednesday through Saturday. That piece carries no date, so those hours may not match the winter schedule. Respiro's Instagram is the place to check current times.

The HRA's public notice places the vendor space only "in the vicinity of Hull Shore Drive." That location matters, and it comes up again further down.

The Countdown to October 25

Weekend service on the Hingham/Hull ferry route ended today, Sunday, October 11. MBTA has also posted that parts of the Hull ferry terminal parking lot are blocked for sewer pump-station construction. From here, the next two weeks of the peninsula's calendar look like this:

1. Tuesday, October 13. Respiro's winter license begins.
2. Saturday, October 17, 10 a.m. to noon. Bob Pahl leads the museum's Hull Village Architecture Walking Tour. It meets at the St. Nicholas parking lot and costs $15 per person.
3. Thursday, October 22. The museum holds its Evening of Spirit.
4. Friday, October 23. The Paragon Carousel runs its Not-So-Scary Haunted Carousel. The same evening, the Hull-O-Ween Pumpkin Trail opens at the Lifesaving Museum from 5 to 8 p.m. It has carved pumpkins, a haunted trail, family activities and a beer tent. Admission is $10 per person or $20 per family.
5. Saturday, October 24. The 40th Head of the Weir River Race starts at 11:30 a.m., and the Pumpkin Trail runs for its second night.
6. Sunday, October 25. The carousel closes its season with the Spooktacular Celebration, featuring $1 rides and a costume contest at 2 p.m. Until then, its fall weekend hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 205 Nantasket Avenue.
7. Monday, October 26. The HRA meets again. LaFond has been asked to attend and discuss adding a second sauna and fire pits.

That puts three of the year's biggest fall events on one weekend. The Weir has a poor-weather date of October 25, so in a rough forecast the race and the carousel's last day would land on the same Sunday.

The Weir Starts From a Different Place

The Hull Times preview of the Head of the Weir describes as many as 60 boats racing out of the narrow estuary. They run from the headwaters of the Weir River, past Bumpkin Island and across Hull Bay, to the museum's Windmill Point Boathouse at Hull Gut. The course is about five and a half miles. More than 200 rowers from across New England and New York take part, in gigs, currachs, ocean shells, workboats and kayaks.

This year, the marsh has changed the start. The paper reports that worsening erosion forced the traditional starting line to move. Every boat now launches from Steamboat Wharf at 48 George Washington Boulevard and rows 1.75 miles just to reach the line. Check-in runs from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. High tide that morning is 10:21 a.m. Entry is $45 per person, and there's no day-of registration.

The race is easy to watch from the finish. After competitors go through the food line at the Windmill Point Boathouse, friends, family and spectators can eat for a suggested $5 donation.

What Stays Open on Nantasket Avenue

The carousel's closing date is firm. The restaurant strip is harder to pin down, because few places announce a season end. Here is what each business's own site said as of this month:

Of these, only Daddy's says outright that it's open all year. The others post current hours without saying whether those hours carry into winter, so a call ahead in January is wise. The 2026 Hull Times Summer Guide also reported that Nanny B's Deli and Ice Cream, near Park Avenue on Nantasket Avenue, was meant to stay open year-round.

Evenings have a fall rhythm too. The HullNext events calendar lists Sunday open mic and Thursday karaoke at Jo's Nautical, Thursday trivia at Sand Bar, Tuesday bluegrass and October live music at Daddy's Beach Club, and October live music at The Parrot.

The Land Under the Sauna Is Still Undecided

The sauna sits on HRA property. The authority describes that land as the area between Water Street and the DCR parking lot along Hull Shore Drive Extension. It has turned down earlier developer proposals and is working on an Urban Renewal Plan. At the October 5 meeting, the board talked about hiring an outside design firm to recommend uses for the property. One option is The Cecil Group, a consultant the HRA has used before.

The open question is cost. Board member Dan Kernan asked whether the community is willing to pay, and how anything built would be maintained. HRA Chair Bartley Kelly put a number on a park-only approach. He told The Hull Times:

"if we're going to make this 100% a park, it would cost about $1 million an acre to do the improvements... If we do [the improvements] right, it will be the crown jewel of the South Shore."

Kelly also floated helping pay for it with a development that doesn't block the view corridor. The discussion carries over to the October 26 meeting, when members will have reviewed the draft scope of services. That is the same meeting where the board will hear the request for a second sauna and fire pits. So this winter, the parcel's long-term future and its seasonal use are on the same agenda. For now, the most visible winter use of that stretch of beach is a $1,250 concession for one sauna.

November Shifts to Hull Gut

Once the carousel closes, much of the peninsula's scheduled activity moves north to the Lifesaving Museum. On Saturday, November 14, the museum holds a Comfort Birds carving workshop and a screening of "In the Whale." On Saturday, November 28, it leads a post-Thanksgiving walking tour. The museum's events page has registration details.

The Hull Times lists two free Hull Artists shows running into early November. Work by Craig Bradley and Tricia Tkaczuk Griffin hangs at Town Hall through November 3, and pieces by Desiree April Connolly and John Marshall Dyke are at the library through November 4. Both can be seen during regular hours. The same paper reports that the town expects holiday lights again this year and is taking donations for the program.

The beach becomes simpler in winter. According to Friends of Nantasket Beach, DCR parking is free outside the paid season, which ran May 25 to September 7 this year. The Mary Jeannette Murray Bathhouse keeps its indoor bathrooms open year-round, while the other DCR facilities it names are summer-only. Through April, that means free parking, an open bathhouse and a sauna on the sand at Nantasket.

Which places stay open after Columbus Day, and where activity moves once the carousel closes, shape what a coastal town feels like as a year-round home. If you're thinking about Hull's off-season, or a move anywhere along this coast, Pamela Bates is glad to share what she knows of how these towns run in winter. Let's Connect.