 Edward Dorr House
1785
8 Andrews Lane
Cushing-Nye-Kingsbury House
1762
418 Maine Street
Moses Lowell House
1730
333 MaineStreet
Michael; Walsh House
1757
421 Main Street
"The Elms"
Captain James Rowell
1800
Corner of Friend and Pond Streets
one of the best examples of a Federal home.
Forrester 2 and Engine 3 Fire Station
1793 Cemetery at Old Town Settlement, now Amesbury
1810 Powder House for storage of shot for 1812 War
Playground at the Town Park
View of Merrimac River as seen from Alliance Park
A lot of history in this city that should not
be forgotten
|
Bartlett Museum
270 Main St.
Victorian-style schoolhouse built in
1870. Contains memorabilia of Amesbury's
history including indian artifacts, natural science items, and carriages. Open
between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day, Fridays through Sundays form 1:00 PM - 4:00
PM. (The Museum is also open 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM on holidays.) To see the Museum during
other times, or to make arrangements
for group tours, call 918-388-4528 or 978-388-7950.
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Friends Meeting
House
120 Friend St
The building was constructed in 1850,
with poet John Greenleaf Whittier serving on the building committee.
From 1851 to 1962 ,
the meetinghouse hosted the Salem Quarterly meeting. The Amesbury Monthly Meeting of
Friends is a current thriving congregation, with Meeting for Worship every Sunday at 10
AM. The facing bench displays a small plaque that reads, "Whittier's Bench."
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Merrimac Hat
Company Mills
Merrimac St. at Bailey Pond
Listed on National Register of Historic Places. Amesbury was
once one of the nation's biggest hat producers. The Merrimac Hat Collection is a
collection of Merrimac Hats and memorabilia on display at 9 Water St. by appointment only.
(978) 388-0091
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Old Powder House
Monroe & Madison Street
The Powder House was used for the
storage of arms and ammunition during the War of 1812 and is believed to have been
built in 1810. It has been preserved to its present condition by the Amesbury Improvement Association.
|
Harriet Prescott Spofford Home
Deer Island
Harriet Prescott Spofford was an American writer whose Gothic romances are set apart
by luxuriant description and her unconventional handling of the female stereotypes of her
day. The house was first used as a local tavern and later converted to a fine dining
restaurant. During Mrs. Prescott's lifetime, the house was host to prominant American
litarary figures including Emerson, Holmes, Whittier, Lowell, and Higgenson. The house is
now a private residence. |
John Greenleaf Whittier Home
86 Friend Street
May 1 through October 31, Tuesday -
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Last tour at 3:15 p.m. Visit the home of John Greenleaf
Whittier, one of America's greatest poets and abolitionists. The house and the furnishings
remain nearly the same as when the Whittier family lived in Amesbury from 1836 until 1892.
Whittier wrote most of his poetry and prose including his classic "Snow Bound"
in the Garden Room.
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Macy/Colby House
257 Main Street (found at the entrance to
Union/Bartlett Cemetery from Main St.)
The home of Thomas Macy until his departure to
Nantucket island in 1659.
Macy was one of the original negotiators for Nantucket island, which was bought for
thirty pounds and two beaver hats. He also was featured as the hero of Whittier's poem The
Exiles.
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The Captain's Well
Main St. (in front of the Middle School)
Original well was dug by Capt.
Valentine Bagley and made famous by the John Greenleaf Whittier poem, "The Captain's
Well", which tells the story of the shipwreck of Captain Valentine Bagley, on the
coast
of Arabia, and his sufferings in the desert where he vowed to dig a well so that no
man should suffer from thirst as he did.
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Salisbury Point Railroad
9 Water Street.
The Salisbury Point Railroad Historical Society is a non-profit dedicated to
railways, railway modelling and all things trains in particular the preservation of Boston
and Maine (B&M) artifacts and memorabillia. Open to members and visitors
Wed 7:00-9:00 PM
|
Mary Baker Eddy Historic House
277 Main Street
Open Saturdays, 10 am - 3 pm
from May to October and by appointment.
The home of Squire Lowell Bagley and then his daughter Sarah. Mary Baker Eddy was a guest
in Sarah Bagley's home during the summer and early fall
of 1868 and again briefly in 1870. She did some of her earliest writing on Christian
Science in this house. Of particular interest are the furnishings, which have remained
substantially unchanged since the time Mrs. Eddy and the Bagley family lived there.
|
Michael Walsh Home
421 Main Street
Michael Walsh, an outstanding mathematician of early America, lived
in a foursquare colonial house on Main Street. His book, "A New System of
Mercantile Arithmetic", was used well into the nineteenth century in all American
schools for boy
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Lowell's Boat Shop
459Main Street
Founded by Simeon Lowell in 1793, the boat shop designed and produced some of the finest
small fishing vessels used by American mariners. The shop is a "working museum"
where visitors can see boats
under construction.
|
| 1640 |
First street named at Salisbury's new West Settlement was named Mill
St. It later became Mill Street in Amesbury. |
| 1641 |
Haverhill Road was planned from the west settlement to Haverhill. |
| 1651 |
Salt water pans were used to extract salt from the Merrimac. |
| 1656 |
First sawmill in Amesbury, known as the New Settlement was built by
Thomas Macy and Richard Currier. There were eighteen families now settled. |
| 1657 |
A very strigent law was passed against harboring Quakers. |
| 1658 |
Salisbury's
west settlement petitioned the courts to separate from Salisbury proper. It was denied |
| 1659 |
Walton Taylor was given permission to build vessels. Land lots were
given to children west of Buttonwood Road. The area west of the road was later
called "Jamaco" |
| 1685 |
The first fence ever around a cemetary was built. Haverhill Road
was laid out.
|
| 1687 |
Thomas
Jewell purchased land next to the New Hampshire line to farm. In England he was a Lord's
coachman. He married his daughter and they eloped to New England and finally settled
here. When the new boundries were drawn, his land was divided between what is now South
Hampton and Amesbury.
|
| 1692 |
A brigantine of sixty tons was built and maybe others before this. |
| 1699 |
A
little known war using pitchforks and hoes was fought in the hayfields between Amesbury
and Haverhill hayers. There was no distinct line between the Amesbury and Haverhill
meadows. Several men would come from Haverhill and drive the Amesbury men off until one
day Amesbury showed up with a larger group using pitchforks chased the Haverhill men off
and dared them to show up again. They never did.
|
| 1701 |
Earliest record of the Society of Friends in Amesbury. |
| 1705 |
First Friends Meeting House in Amesbury. It was built on Friend
Street. |
| 1709 |
First vessel built in Jamaco, first name used for South Amesbury |
| 1716 |
The first school house in Amesbury was built. |
| 1728 |
Amesbury had its first bank and it was owned by the town. The name
was "The Town Bank". |
| 1731 |
A bridge across the Powow River was built. |
| 1739 |
David Blaisdel was making clocks. He was also known for making other
items such as nails. He held the record for making five hundred hand hammered nails in one
day and they were of two sizes. |
| 1747 |
William Whittier began making bricks at the intersection of
Buttonwood Road and the Merrimac River. |
| 1750 |
Joseph
Bartlett was given permission to build a lime kiln at the mouth of the Powow River. There
was a huge mound of clam shells that the Indians had made. They were used to make the lime
which was of great quality. The Indians had used this place for centuries to fish and
clam.
|
| 1767 |
The town sent back to Canada the French Prisoners of war that had
been held for eleven years.
Moses Chase built the first hat factory. It was near the river.
Merchant Chase built a tailor shop next to the hat factory. |
| 1773 |
The worst tornado ever to hit Amesbury. It lasted three minutes and
over two hundred structures were either badly damaged or destroyed.
|
| 1784 |
River Road was approved. |
| 1800 |
Michael Emery and William Little built the first carriage. It was in
West Amesbury, now Merrimac. |
| 1805 |
The nail factory burned down at a huge loss. It had been
built in 1796. The Academy was approved and built. |
| 1808 |
There were 21 ships, thirteen briggs, and seven other vessels built
at the ship yards. Amesbury had been building vessels since first settled. |
| 1816 |
The
towns north of the Merrimac River voted whether to unite with New Hampshire making the
Merrimac River the dividing line between the two states. The votes failed. |
| 1817 |
James
Chase started making utility pottery. |
| 1818 |
The
nail factory closed. The building was sold in 1824 to a woolen mill and it was demolished
in 1872. |
| 1828 |
Provident
Bank was built in Amesbury. |
| 1888 |
In
the fall of 1888 the great fire occurred on "Carriage hill," which destroyed the
business plants of sixteen of these firms. Most of the factories were rebuilt in brick
buildings.
|
| 1912 |
The
Hamilton Woolen Mills, a successor to the Salisbury Mills shut done.
|
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