Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States.

A suburb located on the South Shore approximately 35 miles (56 km) to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 2020 census.

It was not long, however, before they began to build homes on their land, and soon requested permission from the colony to be set off as a separate community with their own church.

The graves of some of Duxbury's first settlers can be found in the Old Burying Ground on Chestnut Street, next to the site of the original meetinghouse.

In 1775, General Thomas Gage dispatched a company of regulars to the town in response to pleas from the loyalists at Marshfield.

[3] When the Minuteman alarm sounded on April 19, 1775, with news of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, many volunteers mustered to the regiment of Colonel Theophilus Cotton from Plymouth, Kingston, and Duxbury, and headed for Marshfield to engage the British.

[4] Duxbury's shipbuilding era began immediately after the end of the Revolutionary War with the Treaty of Paris.

As several merchant families began to amass large fleets, shipyards and other ancillary industries flourished and Duxbury prospered.

By the 1840s, Duxbury boasted about 20 shipyards and produced an average of ten large sailing vessels per year.

[2] The largest industry in Duxbury was owned by Ezra Weston, who came to be known as "King Caesar" due to his success and influence.

His son, Ezra Weston II, who inherited his father's kingly sobriquet, would bring the industry to its height.

Lloyd's of London recognized Weston as the owner of the largest fleet in America, and this judgment was confirmed by Daniel Webster in a speech in 1841.

[5] By 1837 there were nearly 40 shipyards along the west shore of Duxbury Bay between Captains Hill and the mouth of the Bluefish River.

Inland farmers provided food for the ships' crews; and a bank handled the shipbuilders' money.

It was not until the construction of Route 3 that transportation to Boston became expedient and the town's population rose further with the arrival of thousands of year-round residents.

On the national level, Duxbury is a part of Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, and is currently represented by Bill Keating.

Duxbury is located within ten miles (16 km) of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, and as such has a well-organized emergency management agency.

[citation needed] Over $26 million of Duxbury's annual budget is devoted to the town's nationally recognized public school system.

[23] Duxbury operates its own school system for the town's approximately 3,400 students, serving preschool through 12th grade.

Chandler School is located near Tree of Knowledge Corner in the west of town and serves students from pre-kindergarten through second grade.

Their chief rival is Marshfield High School, team mascot the Rams, and they play against them in the Thanksgiving Day Tournament.

The parents of a former Duxbury Middle School student filed a $1 million lawsuit in March 2021 against the Duxbury Public Schools and a former gym teacher and hockey coach, accusing him of repeatedly raping their son in his eighth grade gym class.

Bay Farm Montessori Academy[30] is a private, independent school located in the southern corner of town and serves Toddlers through grade 8.