Known for its storybook scenes along the North River, the town of Norwell, Massachusetts, was first incorporated as South Scituate in 1849. Author and local historian Samuel H. Olson chronicles the life and times of this quaint New England community through a collection of articles previously published in the Norwell Mariner. As the shipbuilding industry on the river waned, farmers, shoemakers and summer residents revealed their rugged individualism and their socially progressive beliefs. Discover how the Norwell we know today was knowingly sculpted by the town's forefathers. By rejecting new-fangled ideas such as the railroad and other "big city" ways, Norwell has retained its solitude and rural landscape.