The Nahant seal commemorates the purchase of the land by Thomas Dexter from the Indian Poquanum, who was Sachem of Nahant and also known as Black Will, for a suit of clothes and a plug of tobacco. A legend persists that a keg of rum was also involved and hidden under the clothes as the land transfer was made somewhere on the causeway connecting the area to Lynn.

     Dexter was a farmer, and lived west of Saugus River, near the Iron Works. He, owned 800 acres of land and was called "Farmer Dex­ter." He was an ac­tive and enterprising man and this pur­chase was one of his many speculations.

     The selection of the subject for the seal never seemed fortu­nate, for Dexter's title to Nahant was successfully contest­ed by the town of Lynn, because Poquanum, in his ignorance, had obtained money several times by mortgaging or selling Nahant. This is told in "Some Annals of Nahant" by Fred A. Wilson.

     Some 50 men and their families came to Lynn in 1630 and occupied from 10 to 200 acres. Before the land was divided and fenced their sheep, goats and swine were kept on Nahant and tended by one or more shepherds. These men, with their families, apparently lived on Nahant.

     A few years later the intent of keeping Nahant for pasturage was waived because of the importance of fishing. Nine men were given permission to plant and build to further the fishing industry. It was also decided that Nahant should be laid out in planting lots and every person clear his lot of wood within six years.

     This encouragement to cut down forests and make farrn land resulted in a treeless town, except for a few scrub cedars.

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