Thursday, July 7: The History of the dams and bridges on the Ipswich River
Come learn about the fascinating history of the downtown bridges and dams on I the Ipswich River, a presentation by Scott Jewell, technology and engineering teacher for the Ipswich Middle School.
How to Fix Our Endangered Ipswich River, Thursday June 30
Join Wayne Castonguay of the Ipswich River Watershed Association (IRWA) for the first of our summer Lyceum series on Thursday evening June 30 for a presentation and discussion about the Ipswich River, which has been listed as being among America’s most endangered rivers, citing the grave threat that excessive water withdrawals pose to ecosystem health and regional water security.
Lyceum Thursdays
This summer will feature our new Ipswich Lyceum series at the Take-out Terrace in the EBSCO parking lot between Zumi’s and the Riverwalk Mural. The Lyceum will feature a series of speakers every Thursday evening at 8:00 pm throughout the months of July and August, 2022. Programs will be on a wide range of topics, and will be about half an hour with time for discussion.
A photographic journey and a stroll along the Ipswich River
Join us for a slideshow of historic photos followed by a walk along the Ipswich River.
Hall-Haskell House Gallery 2022 art schedule
The Hall-Haskell House Gallery shares 36 S. Main St. with the Ipswich Visitor Center.
The Story Behind the Story of Wigwam Hill
As a researcher on Indigenous history here, I was captivated by this account, both for its romance and its tragedy. Who were these people? Where did they come from and where did they go? Why was all that happening and what did it mean? And what did it have to do with Masconomet’s Agawam Village, known archaeologically as once having occupied that same Wigwam Hill site on Castle Neck? Following are the answers I discovered.
The U.S. Supreme Court and its relation to the Salem witch trials
The United States Supreme Court is expected to make a decision about women’s rights based on a ruling by a judge who lived 400 years ago, and who based his opinion on Medieval precedents.
Thomas Dennis, legendary Ipswich joiner
Thomas Dennis (1638–1706), came to Ipswich from Devonshire, England. His home at 7 County Street still stands, and is where he practiced his trade as a joiner and master carver. The furniture of Thomas Dennis took on the status of historic treasure, and over time more pieces were attributed to him than he could have produced in his lifetime.
Nathaniel Ward: “The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America”
The Rev. Nathaniel Ward emigrated to Massachusetts in 1634 and served for two years as the minister in Ipswich. His “Body of Liberties” established a code of fundamental principles of government for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Ward’s book “The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America” was published in England in 1647.
The hanging of John Williams and William Schooler, July 1637
In 1637, two men convicted on separate counts of murder were executed in Boston on the same gallows. John Williams was convicted of killing John Hoddy near Great Pond in Wenham on the road to Ipswich. William Schooler was tried in Ipswich and found guilty of killing Mary Scholy on the path to Piscataqua.
Ipswich in the Civil War
By Harold Bowen: The monument was first erected by the town in 1871 as a memorial to those who died in the Civil War. It had an iron fence all around it and inside the enclosure was a stack of cannon balls in each corner where a flag was inserted.
The Revolutionary letters of Joseph and Sarah Hodgkins
Throughout the Revolutionary War, Joseph Hodgkins sent letters home from the battlefronts to his wife, Sarah, detailing the desperate troop conditions and longing for home. The physical letters are preserved and are offered here online, transcribed with grammatical corrections for readability
The Great Ipswich Fright, April 21, 1775
A rumor spread that two British ships were in the river, and were going to burn the town. The news spread as far as New Hampshire, and in every place the report was that the regulars were but a few miles behind them, slashing everyone in sight.
Abraham Knowlton, “Workman of rare skill”
Ipswich is home to two groundbreaking masterworks of early eighteenth century America, a paneled wall and a pulpit. Both were made by Abraham Knowlton (1699- 1751), a woodworker who is less well known than he deserves to be.
William Oakes and the great Ipswich putdown
Selection from Ipswich Yesterday by Alice Keenan, 1982. Photos by George Dexter and Edward L. Darling. Ipswich has the habit, long ingrained, of turning on those who love her most, and who, innocently and willingly, donate their time, talents, energies, and in some cases — money — for her welfare […]
The tragic story of Rebecca Rawson, 1679
Rebecca Rawson of Newbury became one of the most popular young ladies in Boston society. She married a charming but cunning young man who left her desolate in London. On her return to America, the ship was swallowed by a tsunami.
The British attack on Sandy Bay
Rockport experienced one of the oddest invasions in U.S. history during the War of 1812 when the town’s fearless residents stopped the British with rocks and anything they could get their hands on.
Public Safety
Voters at the 2021 Special Town Meeting and Election agreed to replace our century-old fire and police facilities with a modern structure. The Public Safety Property Re-Use Working Group was recently created to determine a variety of potential uses for the existing facilities.
Old Roads and Bridges of Newbury and Newburyport
Bridge over the Parker River in Newbury, on today’s Rt. 1A, 1898.
Colonial boycotts
American economic sanctions in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine have parallels with American Colonial non-importation agreements in the years leading up to the war with Britain.
“A State of Nature,” Worcester in 1774
“In Worcester, they keep no Terms, openly threaten Resistance by Arms, have been purchasing Arms, preparing them, casting Ball, and providing Powder, and threaten to attack any Troops who dare to oppose them….the flames of sedition spread universally throughout the country beyond conception.” -Gen. Thomas Gage
2006: the Mill Road “linear park”
It’s been 16 years since the 2006 Mother’s Day storm rammed the Ipswich River into the Mill Road Bridge, almost collapsing one of its three brick arches and closing the bridge for three years. Fences were erected at either end, effectively making the bridge feel like a demilitarized […]
Nathaniel Wade
After hostilities began in 1775, Capt. Wade led his unit in pursuit of British soldiers retreating from the battles of Concord and Lexington. Two months later they fought in the battle of Bunker Hill. During the war he commanded troops throughout the campaign in Rhode Island and at Long Island, Harlem, and White Plains.
Smallpox
One of the most progressive citizens of Ipswich, Dr. John Manning opened a practice in 1760, and began inoculating members of his family for smallpox, incurring the wrath of the Town. An epidemic of smallpox spread through Boston during the British occupation of the city at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
Battles of the bridges
The Town proceeded to build the County & Green St. stone bridges is in contrast with its belligerent opposition to the earliest ones.
Haven’t we seen this before?
Russia’s assault on Ukraine evokes memories of September 1, 1939 when Hitler invaded Poland.
The Powder Alarm of 1774
A mob of tens of thousands marched on Boston in 1774 upon hearing a rumor that the city had been destroyed by the British.
The Essex Junto
In 1778, a number of prominent Essex County men gathered in Ipswich, and became the backbone of the Massachusetts Federalist Party. President John Adams, also a Federalist coined the name “Essex Junto” for the adversarial group.
Washington and Liberty Streets
For two centuries it was known as Gravel Street for the two gravel pits on the hillside, and took a right turn to what is now Lords Square. After the 100th Anniversary of the War for Independence, Gravel Street became Washington Street, and the remaining section of the old Gravel Street took the name Liberty Street.
The Intolerable Acts of 1774
Despite the failure of the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, the British Parliament responded to the “Boston Tea Party” by passing even more restrictive acts to punish the American extremists.
Ipswich Pillow lace
In the late eighteenth century, Ipswich had 600 women and girls producing more than 40,000 yards of lace annually. Ipswich industrialists imported machines from England to mechanize and speed up the operation, which destroyed the hand-made lace industry.
1769: Spinners of Liberty
In response to the Townsend Acts, the women of Massachusetts set themselves vigorously to the making of cotton and woolen fabrics in their homes, that there might be no sale for English goods.
Lynn Shoeworkers Strike, Feb. 22, 1860
Excerpt from Mass Moments On February 22, 1860, thousands of striking shoe workers filled Lyceum Hall in Lynn. By choosing to begin their protest on Washington’s birthday, the strikers were invoking the memory of their revolutionary forefathers. Lynn had been a shoe making town since the early 1800s. […]
Postcards from Ipswich
Many of the colorized postcards of Ipswich were created from photos taken by George Dexter, Edward Darling and Arthur Wesley Dow in the late 19th and early 20th Century.
Steep Hill
Steep Hill is a glacial drumlin that ends abruptly at Crane Beach. The rocky seafloor at that location has abundant sea life and foraging birds.
Leslie’s Retreat, or how the Revolutionary War almost began in Salem, February 26, 1775
In our struggle for Independence, the British military received its first setback from the inhabitants of Salem in an episode that could not have been more ludicrous or entertaining if it had been written for Monty Python.
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Historic Ipswich 