Public safety
Voters at the 2021 Special Town Meeting and Election have the opportunity to replace our century-old infrastructure with a modern fire and police facility.
Ipswich Illumination
Ipswich Illumination, Saturday, September 18, 2021, 5-10 PM
Saturdays, October 2, 16 & 30, 2021 5-9 PM
Saving John Appleton’s house
In 1962 the historic house at the corner of Central and North Main Streets was purchased by Exxon to demolish and build a gas station on the site. The Ipswich Heritage Trust was created to save it.
Nightmare on Washington Street
A developer would construct a 16 unit wall of condominiums at the site of the car wash.
Moses and Aaron Pengry and their descendants
Two brothers, Moses and Aaron Pengry both resided in Ipswich by 1641. and were active in town affairs. The surnames of their descendants are alternatively spelled Pingree, Pengre, Pengrey, Pengry, Pingre, Pingrey, Pingry.
Abolition and the Underground Railroad in Ipswich
A network of the Underground Railroad ran north along the coast from Boston to Salem, where it split into three trails; one continued through Beverly, Ipswich, Newburyport and West Newbury to Amesbury where escaped slaves were escorted into New Hampshire.
Homes of the descendants of Daniel Rindge and Mary Kinsman of Ipswich
Daniel Rindge (aka Ringe) was in Ipswich, in 1648. He married Mary Kinsman, the daughter of Robert Kinsman who came to Ipswich in 1635.
Around the fireplace
The memories of this writer go well back into the 19th Century to a time when life was very simple. First-hand accounts from parents and grandparents added to the understanding of the early days of that century. As this is written, a fine cold snow is coming down in ten degree weather. When those pioneers faced the like of this they had a lot more to do than to turn up the thermostat.
Shay’s Rebellion
On the last Tuesday of August, 1786 some 1500 armed insurgents took possession of the Northampton Court House, initiating a brief war known as Shay’s Rebellion.
Ipswich Open Space drone videos
Drone tours of four Ipswich Open Space conservation properties, created with Ipswich ICAM and Open Space Program intern David Bitler.
Bruce Laing
Bruce Laing will be missed. He was one of the first people to offer articles for the Historic Ipswich website, and was instrumental in creating the inventories of internments at the oldest burying grounds in Ipswich..
Essex County First Period houses
This page has moved to https://historicmassachusetts.org/first-period/
The Knobbs
The Knobbs is a small beach in a stretch of salt marsh on the west side of the Ipswich section of Plum Island. On the Atlantic side was the Kbobbs Beach Life-Saving Station, replaced in 1947 by a camp for children who had been victims of polio.
