Martin's Beach

Martin's Beach is a fictional beach resort used by H. P. Lovecraft and Sonia Greene as the setting for their short story "The Horror at Martin's Beach". It appears as the venue for the display of a huge sea monster, and then later as the scene of the revenge of the creature's still-more enormous parent.
The story describes Martin's Beach as a "wealthy resort district" that is "popular as watering-place". Its main attraction seems to be the Wavecrest Inn, a "cliff-perched Inn whose imposing towers proclaimed its allegiance to wealth and grandeur." It has a "sumptuous ballroom" and a "high-ceiled and lantern-lighted veranda". The "hotel wharf" mentioned in the story is presumably the Wavecrest's dock.
The story also mentions a "distant cottage colony that rose modestly on a green hill to the north".
==Location==
While the story does not specify the location of Martin's Beach, it does provide some clues. First of all, the boat that captures the sea monster is called "the fish smack Alma of Gloucester". That this refers to the Massachusetts fishing town is bolstered by the fact that when it comes time to preserve the creature, the experts who do so are "Boston naturalists"--implying that that is the nearest large city to Martin's Beach.
When Captain Orne installs the monster in a shipboard museum, he is described as then "sailing south to the wealthy resort district of Martin’s Beach". If one assumes that Orne is starting from his home port, that narrows down the possible locations considerably; one can only sail south from Gloucester for a few miles before hitting open ocean; most locations on the shore near Gloucester would be described as being either to the west, east or north. (That Martin's Beach is in the vicinity of Gloucester is again implied when the boat holding the creature disappears, and the search for it is "aided by large numbers of fishing boats from Gloucester.")
In her memoir The Private Life of H. P. Lovecraft, Greene describes the real-world area that inspired the story:
Magnolia, a prosperous beach resort located near and to the south of Gloucester, would answer well as a location for Martin's Beach in Lovecraft Country.
==References==
Category:Locations Originating From Lovecraft Circle Works
Category:Structures