Crane Beach facts for kids
Crane Beach is a special place in Ipswich, Massachusetts. It's a protected area that covers about 1234 acres (5 km²). The beach has a long, sandy shoreline stretching for four miles (6 km). You'll also find sand dunes and a forest of pitch pine trees here. There are over five miles of trails for hiking through the dunes and forest, starting right from the beach.
Crane Beach is open all year round. If you live in Ipswich, you can get a yearly parking sticker to visit for free. Visitors from other towns need to pay a fee. For example, in summer, a car might cost $30 on weekends. The beach has a snack bar in the summer. Restrooms, showers, and changing rooms are open all year.
When the tide is low, you can often walk out to sandy areas called sandbars. During warmer months, small boats sometimes park on these sandbars. From the beach, you can see Plum Island and its sandy beaches across the water.
Crane Beach became a protected area in 1945. It was a gift from Richard T. Crane Jr. and his family. Today, The Trustees of Reservations own and care for Crane Beach. They also look after nearby places like Castle Hill and the Crane Wildlife Refuge.
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Fun Facts About Crane Beach
Crane Beach Day Celebration
Every year, usually on June 16th, Crane Beach hosts a special event called Crane Beach Day. Students from local schools in Ipswich, like Doyon, Winthrop, and Ipswich Middle School, come to the beach during the school day. Middle school students can even join a fun run from the Ipswich Town Hall to the beach.
This tradition started way back in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Richard T. Crane, Jr., who used to own the Crane Estate, invited all the Ipswich school children to the beach. They did this to celebrate their son Cornelius's 6th birthday. And so, Crane Beach Day has been a special event ever since!
100th Anniversary of Crane Beach Day
In 2011, the schools celebrated the 100th anniversary of Crane Beach Day. It was a very special day! Some students, whose birthdays were closest to the event, arrived at the beach by boat. This was just like how people would have arrived when the tradition first began.
There were actors dressed up as the Crane family to greet everyone. They even had a copy of the old Ipswich Lighthouse. A special ice cream flavor called "Cornelius Crunch" was made just for the event! Plus, every student got a special t-shirt to wear. It had a picture of Cornelius on his 6th birthday.
Home to Special Birds
Crane Beach is a very important place for a bird called the piping plover. This bird is considered threatened, which means there aren't many of them left. In 2006, experts counted only about 3,884 piping plovers in total. That same year, Crane Beach was home to 19 pairs of breeding plovers and 40 adult birds. This shows how important the beach is for helping these birds survive.
Getting to Crane Beach
During the summer weekends, the Cape Ann Transportation Authority (CATA) offers a bus service. This bus runs on sunny days between the Ipswich MBTA train station and Crane Beach. It costs $2 per person to ride the bus.
Crane Beach in Movies
Crane Beach has been featured in some famous movies!
The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
In the 1968 movie The Thomas Crown Affair, starring Steve McQueen, there's a cool scene. McQueen's character drives a dune buggy right across Crane Beach.
Little Women (2019)
The beach scenes in the 2019 version of the movie Little Women were also filmed on the Crane Beach property.
