The Town of Nahant is a resort town of rocky coasts in the southernmost part of Essex County. Used in early colonial days as a grazing areas for cattle, sheep and goat flocks owned by Lynn residents, Nahant very soon became a maritime community with a small population devoted to fishing. Settlers were granted land for homesites but only if they also spent time fishing and smallboat fishing developed before 1640.
In the modern era, Nahant has protected its residential status and farming and industrial activity have disappeared.