Newbury Plantation was settled in 1635. The Rev. Thomas Parker and cousin Rev. James Noyes, along with the latter’s brother Nicholas, led a group of about 100 pioneers from Wiltshire, England, first landing in Agawam (now Ipswich) in 1634. They next spring they sailed to the Quascacunquen River, now the Parker River. A commemorative stone marks the spot where Nicholas Noyes was the first of the new settlers to leap ashore. Newbury originally included Newburyport, set off in 1764, and West Newbury, set off in 1819.
Byfield is a small community within Newbury, and is where in 1763 the nation’s first preparatory school, Dummer Academy, now The Governor’s Academy was founded. Byfield developed into a mill village, and once had six water powered mills.
Stories from Newbury







On January 28, 1764, the General Court of Massachusetts passed “An act for erecting part of the town of Newbury into a new town by the name of Newburyport.” The act reads, “Whereas the town of Newbury is very large, and the inhabitants of that part of it who dwell by the water-side there, as it is commonly called, are mostly merchants, traders and artificers, and the inhabitants of the other parts of the town are chiefly husbandmen; by means whereof many difficulties and disputes have arisen in managing their public affairs – Be it enacted … That that part of the said town of Newbury … be and hereby are constituted and made a separate and distinct town.” Newburyport became a city in 1851. Situated at the Merrimack River, Newburyport became an active port for privateering during the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. One of its most important industries was the construction of whaling and clipper sh ships.
Stories from Newburyport











The HABS and the HABs NOTS
Documenting the Architecture of Newburyport in the Historic American Buildings Survey