HERITAGE TOURS
Heritage Tours and Events
2024
Discover history: <clipperheritagetrail.com> Free downloadable tours, brochures, maps, and free smartphone tours. An American Association of State and Local History Merit Award Winner.
Events are all free unless otherwise indicated.
Saturday, July 27, and Saturday, August 3, 10 am to 6 pm. *Local Citizens and Their Contributions. Oak Hill Cemetery. Brown and State Streets. Over 20 gravesites will be labeled – ministers, benefactors, sea captains including Francis B. Todd who was buried in a rum barrel, artists, and the burial site of Anna Jaques, the benefactor of our local hospital. Enjoy a stroll through beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery while learning about our local citizens of the past.
Saturday, July 27 – Sunday, August 4. *If This House Could Talk neighborhood stroll. City residents will be displaying posters with stories about their homes. Stroll Newburyport neighborhoods and look for house stories prominently displayed. Online map: http://map.walknewburyport.com or see http://www.walknewburyport.com for details.
Saturday, July 27, 10:00 to 11:00 am. *A Stroll Through Old Newburyport. Senior Community Center, 331 High Street. Author and historian Ghlee E. Woodworth will take you on a visual tour of old Newburyport of rarely seen photographs of the Museum of Old Newbury’s collection. A pole vaulter, the Newburyport National Band and Aldephi Orchestra, and Star Moving Pictures. Seats fill up fast!
Saturday, July 27 – Saturday, August 3, 10:00 – 5:00 PM. *Merrimack Valley Ship Model Club Exhibition. Unitarian Universalist Church, Lower Level, 28 Pleasant Street. The Merrimack Valley Ship Model Club will exhibit a wide range and variety of ship models displaying tiny miniatures, and modest rowing craft in contrast with ocean-going vessels. MVSMC members will be at the exhibit demonstrating modeling techniques and sharing background stories about the models on display.
Saturday, July 27, 8 – 9 pm. *Film: Born Again: George Whitefield, America’s biggest celebrity in the 18th century. Old South Presbyterian Church, 29 Federal Street is hosting a free, community-wide screening of a new 60-minute documentary that was just released by the CTA/Gary Wilkinson film crew based in the UK. Born Again: George Whitefield, America’s biggest celebrity in the 18th century is a thorough look at the life and personality of George Whitefield, who is buried beneath the pulpit of Old South, right here in Newburyport. Come learn about this lightning-rod celebrity whose preaching helped galvanize the colonies and shape the American independence movement.
Museum of Old Newbury: *Guided Tours: Thursday through Sundays weekly, 11 am – 5 pm. (last tour at 4 pm); 98 High St. Tickets online at www.newburyhistory.org. Come take a 50-minute tour of this 1808 Federal period house which tells the story of the Cushing family and the greater Newburyport area. Since 1877, the Museum of Old Newbury has been collecting, preserving, and presenting the history of Newburyport, Newbury, West Newbury, Byfield, and Plum Island. With objects and documents, we tell the stories of local people from the past four centuries. [email protected]; phone: 978-462-2681.
Custom House Maritime Museum: *Guided Tours: Tuesday – Saturday: 10 am -5 pm; Sunday Noon to 5 pm.
25 Water Street. Join our expert docents for a tour of the museum and our recently installed, brand new exhibits! Tickets at door. Admission is free with any membership level. For more information, visit our website www.thechmm.org or call us at 978-462-8681.
Saturday, July 27, 11 am – 3 pm. *Kids Day at the Museum. Join us at the Custom House Maritime Museum for the Grand Opening of our Discovery Center! Enjoy kid-friendly tours, crafts, story time, games, and some fascinating maritime artifacts. Half-off admission to the museum for adults, no charge for kids and free for NBPT residents! 11 am – 3 pm. For more information, visit our website www.thechmm.org or call us at 978-462-8681.
Saturday, July 27, 1:00 – 3:00 pm. *Newburyport Powder House Park and Learning Center, 57 Low Street (across from Nock/Molin Schools). Come and visit the restored Powder House built in 1822 on Godfrey’s Hill. View the exterior and interior restoration and original cobblestone wagon path. Members of the Acton Minutemen will be there to talk about the importance of the early militias in all the towns of the Mass Bay Colony, and to demonstrate the use and firing of the flintlock musket, and various marching maneuvers from the Revolutionary War. The Powder House is an American Association of State and Local History merit award winner.
Saturday, July 27, 2:00 – 3:00 pm. *We’re Going to Plum Island! Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island Turnpike. Join author and historian Ghlee Woodworth to view never before images of the Museum of Old Newbury’s new photograph collection. Beachgoers eating watermelon, families and their cottages, and the U.S. Lifesaving crew practicing rescues. Seats fill up fast!
Saturday, July 27, 4:00 pm – 5:30pm. *Uncommon Ground- Pawtucket Spaces and Colonized Places on the Molodemak (Merrimack) River. Custom House Maritime Museum, 25 Water Street. Join public historian Kristine Malpica for a talk and walking tour that explores Pawtucket-Pennacook-Abenaki Indigenous presence along the Molodemak (Abenaki) River, which served as a conduit of travel, trade, cross-cultural exchange and conflict with English colonists. The tour begins at the Custom House Museum’s new “Before Newburyport” exhibit of Native artifacts and history, then continues along the Clipper City Rail Trail to the Firehouse Center for the Arts.
Sunday, July 28, and Saturday, August 3th; 10:00 am to Noon. *Superior Courthouse Open House, Bartlet Mall. Visit the 1805 courthouse, designed by Charles Bullfinch, and learn about its history and beautiful interior and exterior architecture including the courtroom where President John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster tried cases. Presented by Essex County Clerk of Courts Tom Driscoll and the Greater Newburyport Bar Association.
Sunday, July 28, 11 am – Noon. *Open House. Church History and Concert: Killeeshil Traditional Irish Music. Central Congregational Church, 14 Titcomb Street, downtown, opposite Brown’s Square, will be holding an Open House on Sunday, July 28th. Killeeshil Traditional Irish Music group will offer a FREE CONCERT. Please come into the sanctuary during the concert to check out displays and storyboards about the history of the church since 1768. The building is accessible and there are restrooms on the first floor.
Sunday, July 28, 1:00 to 3:00 pm. *Old South Church Tours, 29 Federal Street. Meet at the Federal Street front doors. Step right in and experience the way the church used to be in the 1700’s! Your tour will be steeped in history as you learn of Paul Revere’s bell, see spittoons in the sanctuary, descend into the crypt and discover a forgotten Founding Father buried directly under the pulpit! Call 978 465-9666 for more information.
Sunday, July 28, 2:00 – 3:30 pm, Tuesday, July 30, 11:00 – 12:30 pm, and Wednesday, July 31, 6:00 – 7:30 pm. *Clipper Heritage Trail’s Along the Water’s Edge Waterfront Harbor Tour. Boardwalk near Black Cow restaurant. Tickets go fast! Make reservations online at www.harbortours.com. Join historian Ghlee Woodworth and marine ecologist Captain Paul Aziz aboard the Yankee Clipper and enjoy a 90-minute cruise along the beautiful Merrimack River. Step back in time and hear about shipyards, Caldwell’s Rum, and a castle as we cruise upriver to Amesbury. On the return leg, the Yankee Clipper takes us along the shores of Joppa, home of clammers, fishermen, and hunters, as we discover the timeless significance of our local estuary.
Monday, July 29, 9:00 to 10:30 am. *Feathered Friends and Long Forgotten Friends, Oak Hill Cemetery, main gates, Brown and State Streets. Join Sue McGrath of Newburyport Birders and local historian Ghlee Woodworth for an exciting outing at Oak Hill Cemetery. Many different species are attracted to the diverse habitat of Oak Hill and while learning to identify birds, see the graves of Newburyport benefactors, sea captains, early American photographers, and abolitionists.
Monday July 29, 6:00 – 7:30 pm. *Clipper Heritage Trail’s Along the Water’s Edge Waterfront Harbor Tour. Boardwalk near Black Cow restaurant. Tickets go fast! Make reservations online at www.harbortours.com. Join historian Ghlee Woodworth and marine ecologist Captain Paul Aziz aboard the Yankee Clipper and enjoy a 90-minute cruise along the beautiful Merrimack River. Step back in time and hear about shipyards, Caldwell’s Rum, and a castle as we cruise upriver to Amesbury. On the return leg, the Yankee Clipper takes us along the shores of Joppa, home of clammers, fishermen, and hunters, as we discover the timeless significance of our local estuary.
Tuesday, July 30, 11:00 – 12:30 pm. *Clipper Heritage Trail’s “Along the Water’s Edge” Waterfront Harbor Tour. Boardwalk near Black Cow restaurant. Tickets go fast! Make reservations online at www.harbortours.com. Join historian Ghlee Woodworth and marine ecologist Captain Paul Aziz aboard the Yankee Clipper and enjoy a 90-minute cruise along the beautiful Merrimack River. Step back in time and hear about shipyards, Caldwell’s Rum, and a castle as we cruise upriver to Amesbury. On the return leg, the Yankee Clipper takes us along the shores of Joppa, home of clammers, fishermen, and hunters, as we discover the timeless significance of our local estuary.
Thursday, August 1, 10 to 11:00 am. *Old Hill Burying Ground tour. Entrance opposite # 20 Auburn Street. Wander through Newburyport’s historic Old Hill Burying Ground with local historian and author historian Ghlee Woodworth. Woodworth will discuss Early Black History and the results of ground penetrating radar that revealed 18 unmarked burials: Now honored with a burial marker: Once Known. We will also visit gravesites of a bridge builder, clockmaker, the owner of Wolfe Tavern and Newburyporter’s captured sailors who were sent to Mill Prison, England.
Friday, August 2 and Saturday, August 3, 11 am – 2 pm. *History Tours. First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, 26 Pleasant Street. Tours run 11 am – 2 pm every half hour. Meet at the front door of the church. Experience nearly 300 years of history at the First Religious Society. Tours will reveal the architectural beauty and social history of the church, a cornerstone of Newburyport since 1723. Be sure to head downstairs after the tour to see the Merrimack Valley Ship Model Club display.
Friday, August 2. *Movie Night at the Museum. Enjoy snacks and a showing of “Night at the Museum” in the Moseley Gallery at the Custom House Maritime Museum. $5 admission, snacks and drinks available for purchase. Please call to register. 4:00 pm – 6:30 (show starts at 4:15).
Saturday, August 3, 10 am to 6 pm. *Local Citizens and Their Contributions. Oak Hill Cemetery. Brown and State Streets. Over 20 gravesites will be labeled – ministers, benefactors, sea captains including Francis B. Todd who was buried in a rum barrel, artists, and the burial site of Anna Jaques, the benefactor of our local hospital. Enjoy a stroll through beautiful Oak Hill Cemetery while learning about our local citizens of the past.
Saturday, August 3; 10 to 11:30 am. *Ablaze! A Fiery Walking History of Newburyport’s Famous Conflagrations. Museum of Old Newbury sign up: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/923912335667?aff=oddtdtcreator. Local historian and author Ghlee Woodworth will walk us through the history of the fires, famous and infamous, that shaped the landscape of downtown Newburyport and changed our community forever. Learn about fire buckets, fire brigades, fire societies, and firehouses, and see how the devastating Fire of 1811 led to an architectural revolution. Visit the site where the Yankee Homecoming 1983 battalion of fire trucks saved a neighborhood and mourn the (relatively) recent loss of a community landmark. End the tour with a visit through the Museum of Old Newbury for a special look at objects and archival records associated with fire-fighting and the history of fires in the past.
Saturday, August 3; 10 am to Noon. *Superior Courthouse Open House, Bartlet Mall. Visit the 1805 courthouse, designed by Charles Bullfinch, and learn about its history and beautiful interior and exterior architecture including the courtroom where President John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster tried cases. Presented by Essex County Clerk of Courts Tom Driscoll and the Greater Newburyport Bar Association.
Saturday, August 3, 2:00 – 3:00 pm. *A Neighbor and Photographer: John W. Winder, Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, Plum Island Turnpike. Join local historian and author Ghlee Woodworth and see fabulous never before photographs of the Museum of Old Newbury’s John White Winder collection. Photographer Winder and his family lived at the corner of Plum Island Turnpike and Ocean Ave. Today the farmland is property of the Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. Many of Winder’s favorite subjects are members of this extended clan, especially children. Family homes also featured prominently, but none more than the Winder farm on the corner of Ocean Ave. Seats fill up fast!