Marblehead, Massachusetts

Marblehead, founded in 1629, is a town located in Essex County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 20,377.

History

Marblehead was first settled in 1629 and was officially incorporated in 1649. The town originated as a fishing village that grew up from the water's edge. The bounty of the ocean filled the shoreline with smell of fish drying and waiting to be exported abroad and to the neighboring port of Salem. The town hit an early economic peak just prior to the American Revolution, as locally financed privateering vessels pirated the seas for the bounty of large European vessels. A very large percentage of the town became involved very early on in the fight for American freedom, and the salty sailors of Marblehead, under General John Glover are recognized by many scholars as the forerunner of the American Navy. The first vessel commissioned for the navy, the Hannah, was equipped with all cannons, rope, provision (including the "Joe Frogger" molasses/sea water cookie) and men all from Marblehead. However, many men of Marblehead that set out to war did not return and so, by the revolution's end, the town had lost a substantial portion of their population and the economy with it. Since then the town had a short-term industrial boom as shoe-making factories and yachting brought new life to the town by the late 1800s. This began the most recent epoch for Marblehead, as the legacy of sailing and yacht-clubs have overcome the fisherman/lobsterman image of the town to remake the town into what it is today. Among its notable residents are General John Glover, who carried Washington across the Delaware, Elbridge Gerry, infamous for political gerrymandering and an early US vice-president, Joseph Story, and most recently the cyclist Tyler Hamilton.

Related Topics:
1629 - 1649 - Salem - John Glover - Elbridge Gerry - Joseph Story - Tyler Hamilton

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Alan November graduated from Marblhead High School in 1970. He spoke at Lancaster High School on Sept. 1, 2005. Pat Farrar, Ken Kellner and John Recktenwald were in attendance.

Related Topics:
Alan November - Pat Farrar - Ken Kellner - John Recktenwald

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