The Essential Story of Historic Newburyport

A joint exhibition and FREE walking tour from Newburyport’s two magnificent museums. Our tour season runs from Friday, June 1, 2012, through Wednesday, October 31, 2012.

At the turn of the 19^th century, Newburyport was one of New England’s busiest ports. Young boys drawn from family farms would find themselves on fantastic and often dangerous voyages, crisscrossing the Atlantic and the Seven Seas.

Rewards for shipmasters, sea captains and merchants alike could be enormous, as were their risks. Far too often an entire ship would be swallowed by North Atlantic gales. In families of 7, 8, or 9 siblings, it was not uncommon for more than half to have been lost at sea.  Associations like the Marine Society of Newburyport, founded in 1772, were formed to help lower these risks.

Once financially established, many captains became merchants, no longer risking their own lives at sea, but hiring others to do so.  But being a merchant came with its own risks, albeit not in risk of life, but risk of fortune – fortunes that may even have been hard-won at sea.  Many discovered they weren’t very good merchants at all and had to go back to sea to recover from losses.

Experience this essential story of historic Newburyport through a not-to-be-missed exhibition in three parts, taken in any sequence. The first part is FREE – a self-guided walking tour through the downtown State Street corridor between Newburyport’s two museums, highlighting several landmarks with tempting facts and details.  A single discounted admission covers the other two parts: the exhibition at the custom House Maritime Museum, just off Market Square, and the exhibition at the Ninety-Eight High Street Museum and Gardens, at the corner of High & Fruit Streets, home of the Historical Society of Old Newbury.