The Friends of Winthrop Beach was founded in 2012 by Rose Mazzuchelli and Barbara Bishop who had written proposals for funding for events in Winthrop, including events on the beach. We were informed by Bruce Berman of Save the Harbor that Winthrop Beach was one of only a few beaches in the Boston Harbor area that did not have an official Friends group, so we formed one. Prior to our filing as a non-profit corporation, Brenda O’Brien Bee and Michael Holland each had organized committees to advocate for and sponsor events on the beach.
Today, the Friends of Winthrop Beach directors are: Rose Mazzuchelli, Barbara Bishop, Lauren Mazzuchelli, Howard Resnick, Brenda O’Brien, Billy Hubert, John DaRos and Sean Driscoll. We apply for grants and invite corporations, small businesses, foundations and people to sponsor free, public events on the beach.
The history of Winthrop’s beaches is a history of storms and damage. From the 1898 Portland Gale, which destroyed homes and property along Shore Drive, the infamous Blizzard of ’78, the “No-name Storm” and others, our beach has been the scene of dramatic and famous images of the great storms of our generation. Waves breaking over the seawall, damaged homes along Shore Drive, railroad tracks destroyed, cars floating down our flooding side streets, lobsters and starfish on our roads – these are the Winthrop Beach memories of many residents of our beautiful seaside community. In this century, however, our State Representative Bob DeLeo secured major state funding through DCR for several Winthrop Beach renourishment and restoration projects for flood protection. The engineering plan, not without controversy, was completed and the project has worked successfully in preventing flooding during major storms.
Winthrop Beach has become famous for “Movie Night on the Beach” as the major event of the summer. This year, despite fenced-off areas for the nesting Terns and Piping Plovers, acres of rocks and grass and the filling in of sand in the area in front of the Five Sisters, the neighbors and friends will be flocking to the beach once again. The beach has become a welcome oasis for both long-time and new residents of the town.
The Friends of Winthrop Beach hope that new images and memories of the beach will be of the joy and the fun of living near the ocean – Winthrop-by-the-Sea.
