WEYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - The mayor of Weymouth is playing the name game over Hingham Bay, floating the idea of changing it to the “Gulf of Weymouth.”
Mayor Bob Hedlund even shared his own version of an updated map Thursday, saying he renamed the bay through an “executive order.” It’s been drawing attention from people in the community.
When President Donald Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, that got the local South Shore politician thinking, “Why not us?”
“I thought it was appropriate that we should follow suit and correct this historical inaccuracy,” Hedlund said.
Hedlund has been working to repair seawalls and fight erosion, so Hingham Bay has been on his mind. And, he’s studied its history.
“Weymouth was settled 11 years before Hingham and most of the Harbor Islands within Hingham Bay are actually territorially part of Weymouth,” Hedlund said.
So, Hedlund took to Facebook, and with some fancy graphics, announced he is taking executive action to rename Hingham Bay.
The mayor’s post got thousands of likes and “LOL” emojis on Facebook. A former commander of the Sons of the American Legion was one of the first to make a comment on the tongue-in-cheek post.
“And I told him I would muster my troops as necessary, to do whatever we have to to protect Weymouth’s interest,” laughed Tom Rizzo, of American Legion Post 79.
Only one Hingham resident agreed to speak with 7News about the momentous change. He called it a silly idea.
“Well, fine. I think the Gulf of America is also pretty lame,” he said.
Nancy Marshall, of Scituate, said she didn’t have any “skin in the game,” but that she hoped the name wouldn’t change.
“I’m going to say keep it Hingham Bay,” Marshall said.
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