Gallery Highlights

Privateers & Capt. Moses Brown

The Colonial government relied on Newburyport “privateers” like Capt. Moses Brown to harass British ships. Curator Kevin also shows you a rare letter of mark.

The Marquands

Capt. Daniel Marquand and his wife Mary moved from England—helping mold a new town, engage in the revolution and welcome a new president to Newburyport in just a 25 year span.

What Will You Learn?

The Marquand Gallery contains many artifacts and exhibits highlighting the glory days of Newburyport, before and during the Revolutionary War.

The Marquands arrived in the port of Newbury in the early 1700s along with a wave of entrepreneurs. They saw the potential of tapping into local virgin forests and an abundant supply of fish to be exported to ports beyond. Access to the Atlantic Ocean also provided an easy way to international trade. As a result, wharfs, ships and commercial buildings developed rapidly.

Families like the Marquands became incredibly wealthy. Nathaniel Tracey, for example, became the wealthiest man in the United States by the time of the Revolutionary War. He and others had large fleets of ships engaged in international trade. These wealthy merchants also built grand homes.

In this gallery, enjoy seeing original documents of the colonial time period, as well a tea brick simliar to those burned at the Newburyport Tea Party (and thrown overboard during the Boston Tea Party.) You’ll also meet Newburyport’s most eccentric citizen Lord Timothy Dexter, who had two books written about him by Pulitzer Prize author J.P. Marquand.