Plum Island Camp Sea Haven Reunion
Sunday, July 28, 1:00pm – 4:00pm

Newbury Fire Hall (adjacent to Fire Department)

Calling all campers and staff of Plum Island’s Camp Sea Haven. Join Ann Harrington Lagasse and family and share your memories and laughter of camp days gone by on Plum Island from the 1940s to the 1980s. Bring your stories, photographs and memorabilia. Ann Lagasse’s grandparents founded Camp Sea Haven in the 1940s for youngsters with polio eventually closing in the 1980s.

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Wharves, Range Lights, Coal and the U.S. Coast Guard 
Saturday, July 27, 10:00 am to 11:00 am

Meet at the Newburyport Art Association, 65 Water Street.

Join Skip and Marge Motes and learn about the 1700s wharf area and the only surviving merchant’s house and companion store in Newburyport. See and learn about the role the Range Lights and their importance navigating through the harbor. Hear about the coal industry, visit the Titcomb and Lunt’s mast and spar yard location and understand the importance of the Coast Guard to Newburyport. The Motes have dedicated several years of intense research about this significant area of Newburyport’s history. You won’t want to miss this tour.

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Clipper Heritage Trail Day 
Saturday, July 27, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm

Clipper Heritage Trail Website

Meet at First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, 26 Pleasant Street

Grab your Clipper Heritage Trail brochures, smart phones, iPads, and Tablets and take a walk along the Clipper Heritage Trail and experience Newburyport’s rich history. While learning about silversmiths, abolitionists and Civil War soldiers, see where the Port of Newbury’s first church stood making way for Newbury Port’s designation as a town, and read about the young John Quincy Adams’ first love.

Be sure to stop by the Unitarian Church, 26 Pleasant Street, one of the Trail locations to visit with Ghlee Woodworth, the creator of the Clipper Heritage Trail. There is a sign up to win prizes.

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Memories of Plum Island Camp Sea Haven

Monday July 29
First Showing: 5-6pm Second Showing: 7-8pm

Parker River Wildlife Headquarters, Plum Island Turnpike.
Ann Lagasse, whose grandparents founded the Plum Island Camp Sea Haven in the 1940s for youngsters with polio and closed in the 1980s, will take us back to relive the days of Camp Sea Haven through stories and a slideshow. The first reunion of campers and counselors is scheduled for Sunday, July 28th, at the Newbury Fire Department Hall.

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Plum Island Clam Plant Open House

Saturday August 3, 1-4pm

Location – past the lighthouse towards the boat wharfs on left. The Shellfish Purification Plant on Plum Island is the oldest operating depuration plant in the world and one of five existing in the United States. Built in 1930 by the City of Newburyport to treat shellfish from the Merrimac River, today the plant is managed by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Soft shelled clams harvested from areas within Boston Harbor, Saugus/Revere as well as from the Merrimac River are processed for at least three days in nine available treatment tanks. The plant draws seawater from 2 deep seawater wells and sterilizes with ultraviolet light. The Newburyport Shellfish Plant has entertained visitors from all over the world and will be celebrating its 81st year of operation this summer.

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Plum Island Lighthouse Tour
Saturday, August 3, 1 to 4pm

Visit the lighthouse at the northern tip of Plum Island. Enjoy a panoramic view of Salisbury, Newburyport, and the Isles of Shoals while learning about the history of the Plum Island Lighthouse. To aid ships entering the river, local mariners at first built fires on the beach and erected poles holding torches. This proved inadequate, and the General Court of Massachusetts authorized the building of “two small wooden lighthouses on the north end of Plumb Island” in 1787. They were finished the following year. The present Plum Island Lighthouse was first lighted on September 20, 1898. Wear comfortable shoes. Climbing a steep ladder is required.

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Gravestone Restoration
Wednesday, July 31, 7:00pm – 8:00pm

Newburyport Clipper Heritage Trail and Restoring History – Gravestone Restoration

Join local historian Ghlee E. Woodworth and take a visual tour along the Clipper Heritage Trail, a series of self-guided local history tours accessed via a website and mobile app. Learn about the design and creation of the Trail while enjoying images of the life in Newburyport during the 1800s. You will then enjoy images of Newburyport’s gravestone restoration project, whose volunteers and workers have helped to restore 1,400 gravestones in Old Hill Burying Ground, Highland Cemetery and Oak Hill Cemetery during the past 3 1/2 years.

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The Cemetery Crawl
Thursday, August 1, 10:00am – Noon

Meet on Hill Street at Highland Cemetery, look for the sign at the road entrance. Join Ghlee Woodworth as we begin at Highland Cemetery seeing demonstrations of gravestone restoration and stopping by gravesites of African Americans, bakers, and organ maker and an artist.Our next stop is across the street at Old Hill Burying Ground to visit gravesites of clockmakers, one of the first bridge builders in the United States, and African Americans. We finish our tour at St. Paul’s Graveyard with Bronson de Stadler to hear from about the history of St. Anna’s Chapel, the church and some well known Newburyport citizens.

Stories from Historic Homes

Saturday, August 3, 10 to 11 am

First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist.
Pleasant and Unicorn Streets. Entrance on Unicorn Street.
Linda Tulley is a member of the Newburyport Preservation Trust. She has been researching the city’s historic homes for close to a decade. Through her research, Linda has uncovered facts about the interesting people who have called these houses home, and will share some of those stories during her presentation. Come join us.

Footsteps of Heroes
Saturday August 3, 9:30-11:00am

Civil War Walking Tour of Newburyport

Walking along the Clipper Heritage Trail, Newburyport and the Civil War author, William Hallett and with his wife Elizabeth, invite you to join on a 90 minute walking tour features sites and stories of Newburyport’s Civil War history including Albert W. Bartlett and the first troops who left the Clipper City; stories of the shipyard; a local politician (and dear friend of Jefferson Davis) who almost ran against Lincoln for president; stories of Frederick Douglass’ visit; a Newburyporter who would become a Confederate General; Civil War P.O.W.’s and more!

The tour begins and ends at 57 State St (Arthur Page Insurance Co). Please wear appropriate clothing and comfortable shoes. Tips are welcome and a portion of which will go to historic preservation. 

For more information, please email: nbptcw@gmail.com or call 978.255.2567 or go to the web site: www.footstepsofheroes.com

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