East Point has a long and colorful history. The Native Americans used Nahant as a summer fishing site. Until 1853 Nahant was a part of Lynn, which was settled by Puritan farmers in 1629 and incorporated as a Town in 1631. While Salem to the north and Boston to the south became world trading centers, attracting wealthy merchants, Lynn was an agricultural town through the early 1800s. Lynn farmers used Nahant as a pasture for domestic animals.
At low tide, the earliest European farmers in Lynn would drive their cows, sheep, goats, and swine across the beach connecting the peninsula to graze as the area would contain the livestock without the need for fencing. To live on the island, early settlers were required to cut down trees (for building structures in Lynn and to create more pasture) and to fish. East Point became known as Ram Pasture in those days. Until 1853 Nahant was part of Lynn, which was settled by Puritan farmers in 1629 and incorporated as a Town in 1631.
In the early 1800s it was occupied by a hotel with "almost 100 beds" and in 1852 by a much larger hotel with "300 rooms and dinning for 600". Two steamships would constantly run from Boston during the summer season. The hotel burned in 1861 and the property was acquired by the family of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. In 1868 Senator Lodge built his "cottage" and later added several outbuildings including a caretaker's house. The Senator’s sister and her husband, George A. James, built a second "cottage" on the south side of the Point. Later it was acquired by Harmon P. Elliott.