White Horse Beach, Massachusetts

White Horse Beach is a village within the jurisdiction of Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on Cape Cod Bay, south of Priscilla Beach. Much of the southern end of the beach, which is also known as Taylor Avenue Beach, south of the outflow of Bartlett Pond, either has cottages on it or has a fenced off conservation area to protect the dunes and fragile plant life.

The area has evolved from a beach catering to summer visitors to a mostly residential area.

At the northern end of the beach is a rock protruding from the water with an American flag painted on. According to local lore, this act of patriotism was performed to cover a Nazi swastika painted on the rock. In the summer of 1941, local teenagers painted the first flag and went on to join the armed forces after Pearl Harbor was attacked in December of that year. The harsh winter storms washed the flag thin, so the swastika showed through. The next Fourth of July, the tradition of re-painting the flag was born.

There is a small business district just beyond the northern end of the beach. It has a defunct general store along with an active Post Office. The post office ZIP code is 02381. Residents and businesses in this village that are non-Post Office box holders use Plymouth's ZIP code of 02360.

Further inland is a park named for a Catholic mission chapel, St. Catherine's Chapel, which supported the large influx of summer time people from the Boston area. The chapel’s parking lot offered free parking and an easy walk to the beach for beach-goers and cottage guests. The chapel was sold to an individual with local ties who razed the structure and directed the landscaping of the property with grass and trees to serve as a small park. Additionally, White Horse Cemetery which dates back to the early 18th century is located off Rocky Hill Road, accessed by a trail, it is hidden from view.

The Post Office, originally inside the General Store, leases a space in the former White Horse Bowling Alley that included pool tables, and pinball machines. Pin setting was done manually by "Pin Spotters", who had to move fast to keep up with the Bowlers

Two hotels were once located on White Horse Beach, the Mayflower and the White Horse Hotel. The Mayflower occupied extensive grounds on the southern end of Taylor Avenue and Manomet Point Road. In addition to the hotel’s main building located on a hill overlooking a nine-hole golf course in front of the hotel, a small pond behind the main building and multiple cottages along Taylor Avenue opposite the beach. The Mayflower’s main building had two convenient fires during renovations in the 1980s. Eventually the main building and golf course were developed into Condos and the cottages sold off. White Horse Hotel was torn down in the sixties to make way for a parking lot.