History - Custom House Maritime Museum

Our rich maritime history, curated by the Custom House Maritime Museum

From High Street to the shores of the Merrimack, the neighborhoods of Newburyport are steeped in maritime history, rich with stories of the people who helped build this city, explored these waters, and founded our nation. From its settlement to its rise as a maritime hub, and to its rebirth, the CHMM tells this story.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Newburyport’s Black Sailors

Once Massachusetts fully abolished slavery in 1783, black sailors would have been a mainstay in a maritime port city like Newburyport; the 1820 census, for example shows almost 100 black residents, compared to 10 in Newbury.

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Newburyport’s Many Shipyards

Among many “firsts” associated with Newburyport’s many shipyards was the building and launching of the first US Revenue Cutter in 1791 – the USRC Massachusetts – from the yard of Searle and Tyler, near today’s Waterfront Park. The US Coast Guard considers this to be the first ship launched into its service…

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Dreadnought – Infamous 19th Century Ship

Dreadnought The Dreadnought, one of the most famous ships of the 19th century, was built in the Currier & Townsend Shipyard at the foot of Ashland Street, in 1853. The ship was employed in...

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Daniel I. Tenney Figurehead

Daniel I. Tenney Figurehead Daniel I. Tenney (1800-1881), a native of Newburyport, was a successful jeweler and generous benefactor to his beloved hometown. He is memorialized as a figurehead...

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Newburyport’s Global Heritage

Newburyport’s Global Heritage During Newburyport’s merchant heyday in the mid-19th century, her captains visited every corner of the globe, returning with exotic cargos and souvenirs that bespoke...

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Saunkskwa of Survivance Sculpture & Tribute

The “Saunkskwa of Survivance” sculpture is an artistic tribute to the strength, wisdom, creativity and authenticity of Indigenous women everywhere.

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Newburyport Hidden Heroes – Adolphus Greely

Adolphus Greely, was on the cutting edge of technology. He was one of the first telegraphers in the military, a founder of the U.S. Weather Service, and introduced the radio and the automobile to the military, as well.

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Newburyport’s Essex National Heritage Visitor’s Center

Have you ever traveled any stretch of the ninety mile route of the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway to explore the picturesque and historic Boston’s North Shore? The route meanders through fourteen coastal communities in Essex County and makes a greatday.

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We Love Our Lighthouse! Photos & Oral History

It was the evening of August 5th, 2022 when the Custom House Maritime Museum transported its members back to the lives of New England lighthouse keepers and their families.

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Nathaniel Tracy Letter: Custom House Collection

The Custom House Maritime Museum is proud to have been able to bid, and win, this letter for our collection – and bring it back home. We were able to do that through a generous donation by a local anonymous benefactor.

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Museum Receives Painting of Ship Anahuac

This beautiful, moody painting depicts the ship in the middle of a “whirlwind” that struck on May 11, 1873, 400 miles W.N.W. of the Azores, while under command of Captain Spalding. The ship limped into the Irish Sea, and was finally towed into Liverpool on May 28.

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Carl S Johnson Autograph Book - Custom House Maritime Museum, Newburyport

In Our Collection: Carl S. Johnson’s Autograph Book

Among the Custom House collections, is a small autograph book. The cover is linen embossed with detailed color paper of a bird perched on a branch of flowers. Artistically inspired corner fold reveals a New England scene with a small child playing hoops.

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Jacob Little: “Great Bear of Wall Street” & “Railroad King”

Little made large, early investments in the railroad construction industry at a time when many of his peers were suspicious of that kind of investment.

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Fresnel Lens in its original location before decommissioning.

Fresnel Lens Heading Home: Interview with a Lampist

In September 2021, Kurt Fosburg of Superior Lighthouse Restoration, LLC moved the Fresnel Lens from its home of over four decades at the Custom House Maritime Museum to its original home in the Pomham Rocks Lighthouse in Riverside, RI.

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Biography: Jonathan Mulliken, Clockmaker

Made here in Newburyport around the time of our War of Independence, the Jonathan Mulliken tall-case clock represents a fine example of American clockmaking from the period.

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The Fresnel Lens: History & Pomham Rocks Lighthouse

Through our wonderful relationship with the US Coast Guard, the Fresnel lens has actually been on loan to us for almost 40 years.

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Legendary Newburyporters Exhibit

Who are the legends that laid the groundwork for Newburyport to persevere through periods of prosperity and turmoil? The Custom House Maritime Museum is honored to host this exhibit.

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Learn 10,000+ Years of Newburyport History

The CHMM remembers Curator Kevin as he told the story of Newburyport

Presented by late CHMM Curator Kevin MacDonald

August 17, 1969 - March 9, 2025

Staff and volunteers are frequently updating the museum's exhibits and galleries. Take a look back through our archives.

Moseley Gallery

The Moseley Gallery is our largest gallery, providing many highlights of what made Newburyport a rich maritime town. This includes the Newburyport Marine Society and cutting-edge ships like the Dreadnought.

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Marquand Gallery

The Custom House's Marquand Gallery details Newburyport’s golden age—the first 50 years after its founding before and during the Revolutionary War.

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Coast Guard Gallery

This gallery shows off many aspects of the U.S. Coast Guard. Founded in 1791 as the United States Revenue Service in Newburyport, the Coast Guard got its name change from President Woodrow Wilson in 1915.

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Collector of Customs Gallery

The Collector of Customs Gallery talks about what our museum building was used for. Ship captains coming to or from other parts of the globe would need to stop at the Customs House and pay taxes on the goods being imported or exported.

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Baker Gallery

The Baker Gallery highlights the museum’s largest artifact—our museum building. It was built in 1835 by federal architect Robert Mills. Mills also designed the Treasury building and the Washington Monument.

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Timeline Gallery

The first gallery across from our visitor’s center welcomes you to explore a historic timeline from pre-historic times to the present. People inhabited the area around the mouth of the Merrimack River for thousands of years. Colonialists from Europe settled it in 1635.

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Bushee Gallery

In the Bushee Gallery, you will learn about the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. You'll also explore souvenirs brought back by local sea captains in the 1800s.