Archaeological & Deep History: 14,000 B.C.E. – 1635 C.E.
During the end of the last ice age, 10-12,000 years ago, New England was covered by a large glacier. A huge block of melting ice was so heavy that it formed a depression.
Newburyport History 1635-1725: Settlement
In 1635, a small band of settlers landed at the northern edge of the Parker River in present day Newbury. They had been persuaded to leave Boston to help establish the northern boundary of Massachusetts Bay Colony against rival claims.
Newburyport History 1725-1790: Colonial Newburyport
By the third quarter of the 18th century, “Newbury Port” had become the center of New England shipbuilding. Between 1756 and 1765, 427 Newbury-built vessels entered Customs at Salem or Boston.
Newburyport History from 1790-1815: An International Port
By 1790 Newburyport began to recover from the aftereffects of the Revolution. Between 1791 and 1794, the value of Newburyport’s exports doubled from $250,000 to $495,000.
1815-1900: 19th-Century Newburyport
The trilogy of fateful events that welcomed Newburyport to the 19th century – embargo, fire, and war – could hardly foretell a century of astounding progress and wealth, marked by a period of modernization and an embrace of the industrial age.
Newburyport Women at Sea
Newburyport merchants began to sail for China, Burma, and India more regularly, and were gone for longer periods of time. Like the whaling wives of Nantucket and New Bedford, Newburyport’s merchant wives began to desire to travel with their husbands, and to make a home at sea.
Three Become One: Birth of the U.S. Coast Guard
Founded in 1786, The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was established to aid ships in distress, and rescue survivors of shipwrecks. The first lifeboat station was established at Cohasset, Massachusetts in 1807.
Coffin Stream Assemblage and Abenaki Arrival
Archaeological excavations in Newburyport, along the Merrimack (Molodemak in Abenaki), unearthed an Archaic period assemblage confirming thousands of years of occupation.
Shipbuilding in Newburyport
Newburyport was geographically well-suited to become one of America’s premier early ship building centers. The town’s location along the Merrimack River provided access to the forests of New Hampshire and Maine.
Shipbuilder Donald McKay
McKay moved to Newburyport in 1841 and opened his own shipyard – Currier and McKay – which allowed him some freedom to experiment with his own ship designs.