Boating & Water Access in Duxbury Bay, MA
Duxbury Bay is not a deep-water harbor you motor into without a second thought — it is roughly three miles long north to south and about two miles wide on average, mostly shallow sand and mud flats exposed at low tide, with a single narrow bridge choking off the bay's northern reach. Real boating access here is built around that geography: a town pier and mooring field, two working boatyards on Washington Street, and a 150-year-old club that mixes sailing with golf and tennis. This page names the actual, currently operating facilities found in fresh research for this market, hedges anything that could not be independently pinned down, and does not invent a marina directory beyond what was confirmed.
Duxbury Bay: A Shallow Bay Shaped by Sand, Not a Deep-Water Harbor
Per Wikipedia's dedicated Duxbury Bay article, the bay runs roughly three miles north to south with an average width of about two miles, formed by The Gurnet — a sandbar extending southeast from Marshfield — and opening south between Captain's Hill on the west and Saquish Head on the east toward Plymouth and Cape Cod Bay. Most of the bay is shallow sand and mud flats exposed at low tide, which is exactly the kind of bottom that keeps deep-draft vessels out and has shaped how the bay gets used for centuries.
A small anchorage called the Cowyard — about 200 yards wide and 20 to 35 feet deep — serves small craft in an otherwise skinny-water bay. The Army Corps of Engineers dredged a 6-foot channel to Duxbury's wharves back in 1908, then dredged a 21-acre anchorage to 8 feet in 1960; an 8-foot-deep, 100-foot-wide channel is maintained today. That shallowness, combined with the mid-19th-century shift toward deeper-draft vessels, is cited by Wikipedia's Duxbury town article as a contributing factor in the decline of the town's once-major shipbuilding industry — the same bay that built ships for a century eventually couldn't float the ships the industry needed.
Powder Point Bridge: The 5-Foot Clearance That Defines Bay Access
Powder Point Bridge is the single structure that controls boat access to the upper bay. Built as a timber bridge in 1891 or 1892 (sources give both years), damaged by fire in 1985 and rebuilt in 1986, it spans nearly half a mile across Duxbury Bay connecting Duxbury village to Duxbury Beach and the Gurnet. It's commonly described locally as one of the longest wooden bridges in the country — a specific Guinness World Record claim sometimes attached to it could not be independently confirmed and should be treated as a long-repeated local claim rather than a verified record.
For boaters, the number that matters is the bridge's fixed-span clearance: only about 5 feet, which limits deep-draft access to the bay's northern end regardless of tide or channel depth elsewhere. The bridge is also a live, current story worth knowing before you plan around it long-term — MassDOT is in early, preliminary design on a Powder Point Bridge Replacement Project, citing advanced timber deterioration and rising repair costs, while a local group organized as "Save Powder Point Bridge" is pushing to preserve the historic structure. No construction start date was confirmed in this research; anyone planning boat access tied to the bridge's current clearance should check current status directly with the Town of Duxbury or MassDOT.
Duxbury Town Pier: The Town's Public Moorings and Launch Point
The Duxbury Town Pier sits at Mattakeesett Court and functions as the municipal heart of water access on the bay. Per Waterway Guide's own listing, the facility accommodates vessels up to 50 feet, with an approach and dockside depth of 8 feet, and manages roughly 150 moorings. It takes cash payment, and on-site amenities run to pumpout, restrooms, ice, and snacks — but not showers, laundry, internet, or pet accommodations, so plan a transient stop accordingly.
The pier is run out of the Town of Duxbury's harbormaster division, reachable at (781) 934-2866 or harbormaster@duxburyma.gov and monitoring VHF Channel 16, with Don Beers listed as dockmaster. Repair capability at or near the pier covers hull, engine, and propeller work, and groceries and restaurants are available within about a mile. As with any municipal mooring field, current mooring availability and rates should be confirmed directly with the harbormaster's office rather than assumed from a listing.
Bayside Marine: A Family Boatyard Since 1949, Under New Ownership as of 2026
Bayside Marine Corp operates at 441 Washington Street in Duxbury's Snug Harbor, describing itself as a full-service boatyard and dry-stack marina. Per the company's own site, services run from outboard engine repair, spring commissioning, and electronics installation to mooring work, shuttle service, hurricane and winter storage, fiberglass and gel coat repair, welding, and detailing, alongside an on-site parts store. Bayside is an authorized Grady-White dealer, carrying models including the Freedom 235, Freedom 275, Express 330, and Canyon 336, and services Yamaha outboards.
The yard has genuinely deep roots — per Bain Capital's own announcement, Bayside Marine was family-owned and operated by the Kent family since 1949. That changed on February 13, 2026, when Bain Capital and BlueWater Marinas jointly acquired Bayside Marine as the fifth acquisition in their East Coast marina joint venture, describing it as a "premier full-service marina" and a launch point for fishing and cruising across the South Shore and greater Cape Cod region. The announcement did not specify slip counts or whether day-to-day operations or staff would change, so boaters with existing arrangements at the yard should confirm current terms directly with Bayside Marine.
Long Point Marine: Engine, Electrical, and Fiberglass Work on Washington Street
A short distance down the same road, Long Point Marine operates at 553 Washington Street as a full-service boatyard. Per the company's own site, its certified staff replace, repair, and rebuild engines from Yanmar, Caterpillar, Volvo, Westerbeke, and Crusader, and handle transmission repair and rebuilding across Borg Warner Velvet Drive, Twin Disc, Hurth, Kanzaki, and ZF models — the kind of mechanical depth that separates a real repair yard from a marina that just sells fuel and dockage.
Long Point Marine's listed service lines also cover marine electronics sales and installation, electrical work performed to ABYC standards (battery sales, inverter installation, system upgrades), plumbing (tanks, heads, bilge pumps, refrigeration and air conditioning), and paint, varnish, fiberglass, and wood repair and fabrication. The company's own site references separate storage-and-hauling and moorings pages beyond its core services listing; contact the yard directly at (781) 934-5302 for current haul-out scheduling, storage rates, and mooring availability.
Duxbury Yacht Club: Sailing, Golf, and Tennis Since 1875
Duxbury Yacht Club is a genuinely unusual institution among American yacht clubs — it was founded in 1875 and formally incorporated in 1895 on Duxbury Bay, with a stated purpose of "the encouragement of yachting and athletic exercises," and it has spent a century and a half building out that athletic side alongside the sailing. Golf became available to members around 1900 on leased farmland; a six-hole course was built between 1913 and 1915 using land acquired from several local farms, and it was expanded to a full eighteen holes by 1976.
Tennis followed a similar path: members played lawn tennis on private courts from about 1900 to 1927, after which the club built three courts of its own, with four more clay courts added by the end of the 1960s. The result is a club that functions as much like a country club as a marina club — a real, differentiated identity distinct from the single-purpose sailing clubs found on most of this site's other markets. As a private club, its own facilities are not a public marina option; boaters should look to the Town Pier, Bayside Marine, or Long Point Marine for public or fee-based dockage and services.
What This Means If You're Boating on Duxbury Bay
The honest summary: Duxbury Bay's confirmed water-access infrastructure is a municipal Town Pier at Mattakeesett Court with roughly 150 moorings and an 8-foot dockside depth, two working Washington Street boatyards — Bayside Marine (newly under Bain Capital and BlueWater Marinas ownership as of February 2026, after 75 years with the Kent family) and Long Point Marine — and a private, 1875-founded yacht club that doubles as a golf and tennis club. All of it sits inside a bay that is mostly shallow flats at low tide, with real access to the upper bay bottlenecked by Powder Point Bridge's 5-foot fixed clearance and a currently maintained 8-foot channel elsewhere.
What this page deliberately does not do is publish a complete slip-count directory, current transient pricing, or guaranteed mooring availability, since those change season to season and were only available here as snapshots. For current moorings and dockside depth at the Town Pier, contact the harbormaster's office directly at (781) 934-2866 or on VHF Channel 16. For haul-out, storage, or repair work, contact Bayside Marine or Long Point Marine directly at their Washington Street yards. Boaters navigating toward the Gurnet or Duxbury Beach should also account for Powder Point Bridge's limited clearance and its currently unresolved replacement-versus-preservation debate before planning a trip around it.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Duxbury Bay geography (roughly three miles long north–south, average two miles wide, formed by The Gurnet sandbar, opening between Captain's Hill and Saquish Head, mostly shallow sand/mud flats at low tide, the Cowyard anchorage at roughly 200 yards wide and 20–35 feet deep, the 1908 Army Corps 6-foot channel, the 1960 21-acre anchorage dredged to 8 feet, and the 8-foot-deep/100-foot-wide channel maintained today) is per Wikipedia's dedicated Duxbury Bay article, cross-checked against Wikipedia's Duxbury, Massachusetts article for the shipbuilding-decline connection. Powder Point Bridge facts (built 1891/1892, damaged by fire in 1985, rebuilt 1986, spanning nearly half a mile, roughly 5 feet of fixed-span clearance) are per Wikipedia and the Town of Duxbury; the sometimes-cited Guinness World Record claim was not independently confirmed and is presented as an unverified local claim. The current MassDOT Powder Point Bridge Replacement Project and the "Save Powder Point Bridge" preservation effort are per SouthShore.news reporting and the group's own site; no construction start date was confirmed. Duxbury Town Pier facts (Mattakeesett Court location, vessels to 50 feet, 8.0-foot approach/dockside depth, roughly 150 moorings, cash payment, pumpout/restrooms/ice/snacks amenities, hull/engine/propeller repair capability, harbormaster contact (781) 934-2866 and harbormaster@duxburyma.gov, VHF Channel 16, dockmaster Don Beers) are per Waterway Guide's own marina listing. Bayside Marine Corp facts (441 Washington Street address in Snug Harbor, full-service boatyard and dry-stack marina, service lines including engine repair, electronics, mooring work, hurricane and winter storage, fiberglass/gel coat work, and detailing, Grady-White dealer status and models carried, Yamaha outboard servicing) are per the company's own site (baysidemarinecorp.com); the Kent family's 1949 founding and the February 13, 2026 acquisition by Bain Capital and BlueWater Marinas as the fifth deal in their joint venture are per Bain Capital's own published acquisition announcement. Long Point Marine facts (553 Washington Street address, engine work on Yanmar/Caterpillar/Volvo/Westerbeke/Crusader, transmission work on Borg Warner Velvet Drive/Twin Disc/Hurth/Kanzaki/ZF, electronics, ABYC-standard electrical work, plumbing, paint/varnish/fiberglass/wood repair, phone (781) 934-5302) are per the company's own site (longpointmarine.com). Duxbury Yacht Club facts (founded 1875, incorporated 1895, stated purpose of "the encouragement of yachting and athletic exercises," golf available to members from around 1900 on leased farmland, a six-hole course built 1913–1915 expanded to eighteen holes by 1976, lawn tennis on private courts 1900–1927 followed by three club-built courts and four more clay courts by the end of the 1960s) are per Wikipedia's Duxbury Yacht Club article. This research did not compile, and does not present, a complete current directory of every mooring, slip, or private dock on Duxbury Bay beyond the facilities named above, nor locked-in current pricing — for that, and for current harbor regulations, contact the Town of Duxbury Harbormaster's office, Bayside Marine, or Long Point Marine directly.