In June, the Scituate Historical Society started its full-moon climb up Lawson Tower at 7:15 in the evening. On December 23 the same climb starts at 3:15 in the afternoon. That four-hour slide is printed right on the Society's 2026 tour schedule, which sets each start time about half an hour before sunset. Over the next three months the town's calendar follows that same clock. Fewer events run along the harbor, and more of them gather on the hill behind 330 First Parish Road.
Front Street Hands Off the Calendar
Front Street's season ends with two last big afternoons. The Scituate Harbor Business Association's 15th Annual Art Walk ran October 2 through 4, with open studios, exhibits in shops and restaurants, and artist demonstrations around the harbor. The Harbormaster Department's Fishermen's Fest was pushed back by weather and lands today, Sunday, October 4, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Town Pier, 208 Front Street. Admission is free, and the day includes seafood, food trucks, boat tours, vendors, and music.
After that, Front Street has one big date left in October. Halloween in the Harbor brings trick-or-treating to Front Street on Saturday, October 31, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., also run by the Harbor Business Association. That window is short, and it ends early.
The harbor's everyday pull is also lighter this fall. Village Market at 71 Front Street had its last day on April 15. The property owner said the building needed significant investment, and Star Market committed to upgrades including refrigeration and HVAC. Wicked Local reported in July that the new Star Market won't open in that space until 2027, and gave no specific date. For this whole season, the grocery stop that brought people to Front Street on ordinary weekdays is closed.
The one outdoor gathering before Halloween is inland. The Appleton Community Garden holds an open house at Appleton Field, 251 Clapp Road, on Saturday, October 10, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It includes garden tours, children's crafts, and refreshments, with October 11 as the rain date.
A Schedule Written Backward From Sunset
The Society calls its full-moon climbs "Trips To The Top." Visitors go up 121 stairs to the belfry, and members of the South Shore Astronomical Society set up telescopes. Tickets are $10, and reservations are required. The late-season start times on the 2026 schedule:
- August 28, Sturgeon Moon: 6:00 p.m.
- September 26, Corn Moon: 5:15 p.m.
- October 26, Harvest Moon: 4:15 p.m.
- November 24, Beaver Super Moon: 3:30 p.m.
- December 23, Cold Super Moon: 3:15 p.m.
The jumps from month to month get smaller. Start times fall 45 minutes from August to September and an hour from September to October. From November to December they fall only 15 minutes, as sunset nears its earliest point of the year. The November tour on Tuesday the 24th starts at 3:30, so anyone on a normal workday would need to leave early to make it.
Tickets matter more than timing in October. The Harvest Moon tour on Monday, October 26, was marked sold out when the Society's page was checked. The November tour has its own reservation page on the Society's site. The December 23 date is on the 2026 schedule but had no separate ticket page as of early October. Every tour is weather permitting.
What You Are Climbing
The tower was built to hide a water tank. In 1901 the Scituate Water Co. planned a 276,000-gallon steel standpipe, 153 feet high, in the town center. The Society's history says Jeannie Lawson called it a monstrosity and asked her husband to do something about it. Thomas W. Lawson sent his architect to Europe, and the architect came back with a sketch of a 15th-century watchtower from the Rhine. Lawson paid the full cost of building the tower around the tank in 1902.
The Society's own description doesn't hold back:
"It is the most beautiful, most photographed, and most expensive water tower in the world!"
The water company used the tank until 1988. The town bought the bells and clock from Lawson in 1923 and the tower itself in 1931, and the Society has looked after it ever since. Almost all of the steel standpipe was cut out in the spring of 2002, leaving only ten feet. Today the stairs wind up around the space where the tank used to stand. The property page counts 123 stairs, two more than the tour listings. Either way, the tower isn't handicap accessible.
At the top are ten bells Lawson ordered from the Meneely Bell Factory in Troy, New York. They range from 300 to 3,000 pounds and are played from a console room on the ground floor through ten wooden levers connected to the belfry by chains and pulleys. For years, someone from the Society has climbed the tower once a week to wind the clock.
The Bells Move Into the Dark
The 2026 bell concerts, played by Society Chimer Lenae Badger and free on the tower lawn, follow the same seasonal pattern as the tours. The summer concerts were all in daylight: Mother's Day at 4 p.m., the Fourth of July at 4 p.m., and Heritage Days on August 9 at 4 p.m. The Halloween concert is Sunday, October 25, at 5 p.m. The Christmas concert is Sunday, December 20, at 6 p.m.
Set those times next to the tour schedule. If the October 26 tour starts at 4:15, half an hour before sunset, then the sun sets around 4:45 that week. The Halloween concert begins about fifteen minutes later, as it gets dark. By December 20 the 6 p.m. Christmas concert is in full darkness. The listing says the Halloween program runs only half an hour, 5 to 5:30. These are the only two concerts on the 2026 schedule after the August Heritage Days performance.
Down on the Driftway, a Ship Leaves Again
The other half of the fall calendar is out on the water's edge, and it marks an anniversary. On March 16, 1956, the Italian freighter Etrusco ran aground beside Scituate Light at Cedar Point during a storm. All 30 crew members were brought ashore at first light by breeches buoy. A US Life-Saving Service Heritage Association account gives the date as March 17. The ship stayed on the rocks for months and drew sightseers. A salvage company refloated it on Thanksgiving. The historical marker records the refloating date as November 22, 1956. According to the Scituate Visitors Center, the ship was later renamed S.S. Scituate to thank the town for its hospitality.
That makes this November the 70th anniversary of the refloat. The Society marked the grounding's anniversary in the spring, with a March 28 annual dinner program, "Grounded in the Storm: Scituate's Etrusco Story," presented by Bob Belliveau. The Society's newsletter described that program as being in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the grounding. The fall program looks wider. On Sunday, October 11, from 1:30 to 3 p.m., Scituate Lighthouse caretaker and historian Bob Gallagher presents "The Etrusco and Its Era: Scituate, America, and the World in 1956." He'll set the events on Cedar Point next to local, state, and national stories from that year. Adults pay $5. Patron members, children, and military are free, and the talk is included with museum admission.
The talk is at the Scituate Maritime & Irish Mossing Museum, 301 Driftway, which is open Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. There's free parking on site and at the MBTA Driftway lot. To see where the ship sat, go to the lighthouse. The building opens only on Society Open House dates, but the walkways at Cedar Point are open every day.
The town is adding to the maritime story this fall too. Scituate is taking proposals for water- or nautical-themed art to display permanently at the Maritime Center. Submissions are due October 15, and the winner will be announced November 9.
Put together, the dates make a full season from the hill to the shore. Etrusco talk on the Driftway October 11. Bells at dusk October 25. Harvest Moon climb October 26. Front Street trick-or-treating October 31. Beaver Super Moon tour November 24, two days before Thanksgiving and a few days past the refloat anniversary. Christmas bells December 20. Cold Super Moon climb December 23 at 3:15.
Pamela has spent more than forty years on the South Shore, and calendars like this one tell her more about a town than any list of amenities. If you're thinking about how Scituate's seasons line up with your own plans for the coming year, Pamela Bates would be glad to talk it over. Let's Connect.
