Marblehead Light Oil House Restoration

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The Marblehead Recreation and Parks Commission has received a grant of $33,000 from the Shattuck Fund to restore the Oil House and various walkways at the Lighthouse. They have engaged Peter Rice to do the restoration.

According to the Inspection report of the 2nd District, Department of Commerce of February 12, 1910, who were in charge of all lighthouses at the time,  the Marblehead Oil House was built in 1907.  It was built of brick at a location 189” southwest of the Tower.  The inside dimensions were 8’ – 8” x 10’ – 8”, and it was designed to hold about 450 gallons of oil in 5-gallon cans.

Why oil houses? The Department of Commerce, after seeing multiple lighthouses burn down or blow up, decided it was time to store the flammables elsewhere rather than in the lighthouse. It was common to store the whale oil, kerosene, gas, and hard lard (for back up if everything else fails) in the light itself. So after the turn of the century you will see oil houses at almost all lighthouses.

A piece of Mary Alley Comes Home

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Marblehead Reporter:  A piece of Mary Alley Comes Home.

Oct. 5th article on the Mary Alley fireplace surround and its future installation in the Widget Road municipal building.

Click here to see the article on the Wicked Local web site:

http://marblehead.wickedlocal.com/news/20171004/piece-of-marbleheads-own-mary-alley-comes-home

Read more Press clippings.

Historical Commission Purchases Marblehead Harbor Print at Canadian auction, returns it to Marblehead – Sailing Ship Prints Have Been Installed in Selectmen’s Office

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In early March, 2017, the Historical Commission received an interesting e-mail from Teresa Simpson, a woman living near Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. She had seen a local Moncton auction company’s ad for an upcoming auction, which included a framed print of “Marblehead Harbor in 1840”, originally painted by well-known marine artist John F. Leavitt. Her thought was that the print really ought to go back to Marblehead – although she had no idea where Marblehead was. After some research, she found the Historical Commission’s web site and e-mail address, and sent a message about the print coming up at auction in just a couple of days – quick action was needed if the Commission was to try to bid on this.

After checking the auction web site, Chris Johnston agreed that the print would be a valuable addition to the Commission’s collection and called the auctioneer to be sure they could accept US funds and could send the print to us if we successfully bid on it. With yes answers to both concerns, the Commission put in a bid and was successful in buying the print. By late March, the print was in Marblehead.

Marblehead Harbor in 1840

 

This is one of a number of prints of Marblehead-related scenes made for the National Grand Bank, and distributed by the Bank to customers. Two other prints from this series are in the Commission’s collection. One is of the “Engagement of U.S. Frigate Chesapeake and HMS Shannon off Marblehead, June 1, 1813”, which was hanging in the Selectmen’s office in Abbot Hall in a rather sad looking frame. The other, “Old Ironsides Entering Marblehead Harbor, April 3, 1814”, was unframed in the Commission’s archives. The Historical Commission had the two existing prints framed, and “Marblehead Harbor in 1840” reglazed with UV protective glass. All three prints are now hanging in the Selectmen’s Office in Abbot Hall. Next time you are in Abbot Hall, stop in the Selectmen’s Office and admire these beautiful prints.

U.S. Frigate Chesapeake and HMS Shannon

Old Ironsides Entering Marblehead Harbor, April 3, 1814

Presenting our New Web Site!

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Welcome to the new version of the Marblehead Historical Commission web site.  Improving the look and usability of the site was important, but the key reason for change was to make it easier to search the archives.  As the stewards for an amazing archive of historical artifacts, images, and documents for the Town of Marblehead, we serve a range of researchers from the professional to the merely curious, but searching the archive was just too difficult.  Not anymore!

New software now makes it possible for the entire archive to be searched either from Google or from our Search page.  From the latter, you can search with just a word or two, or you can narrow your search by adding search criteria and categories.  Give the new search a try and let us know how you like it.

Another reason for updating the site is the increased use of smart phones and tablets to access the site.  More people are browsing and searching for information from their handheld devices with smaller screens, so the old designs for web sites just didn’t work as well.  Our updated site is designed to accommodate screens of all sizes and to show the information in a layout that is appropriate to your screen.

For those who want to stay current with upcoming events related to our Town’s history, we have also introduced a calendar that will show not only upcoming events for the Historical Commission, but also events to be held by other organizations that are likely to be of interest.  For those who like to look back, our calendar also contains highlighted dates from Marblehead’s history so you can learn Marblehead’s fascinating stories day-by-day throughout the year.

Finally, we’ve tried to provide lots more information for both residents and visitors who want to see and experience Marblehead’s rich history.  For historic structures and places and for Marblehead’s numerous museums, there are now maps to guide you there, pictures to show you what you’ll find, and descriptions to help you understand the historical importance.

While the renovation of the site was a large project, we plan to continue make incremental enhancements in the future. As you use the new site, please provide your feedback so we can add the right information in a way that you find usable, fun, and informative. Send us comments at mailto:historic@marblehead.org

Marblehead Shoe Shop to Become Museum

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Marblehead’s early history was formed by the shoe industry almost as much as it was by its fishing fleet and revolutionary spirit. Between voyages, many fishermen would hand-make shoes in small shops, called “Ten-Footers”. Later in the 1800’s this led to the creation of a full-fledged shoe industry in Town.

Several “Ten-Footers” still survive in Marblehead, although most have been modified over the years and are now barely recognizable as such. However, one excellent example of a “Ten-Footer”, located at the foot of Fountain Park on Orne St., is owned by the Town. This shoe shop can reveal much about the local economy before the industrial era. Thanks to a grant application by Town Planner Rebecca Cutting, the Town has received a 2016 Essex Heritage Partnership Matching Grant Award that will allow this “Ten-Footer” to become a museum of the early pre-industrial shoe industry in Marblehead. The Town has awarded a Contract to Larson Fisher Associates, of Woodstock, NY to research and design an interpretative program for this “small” museum (after all, it is called a “Ten-Footer” for a reason). The primary goal of the project is to design, fabricate and install interpretative panels at the site. The project work scope will entail researching and creating story boards, the exhibit’s visual elements, and its physical specifications. The displays will use information and possibly artifacts from the Marblehead Historical Commission and other sources. It is expected that this project will be completed in mid-2017. In a separate project, the Town will renovate and restore the shoe shop.

Historic Documents Hung in Selectmen’s Room

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The Marblehead Historical Commission has installed archival quality copies of four key historical documents related to Marblehead in the Selectmen’s Room in Abbot Hall.

The documents are signed letters from Paul Revere (1787), president George Washington (1789) and Elbridge Gerry (1769) as well as a Massachusetts General Court Resolution (1784) signed by governor John Hancock and state Senate president Samuel Adams.

The Historical Commission recently restored, digitized and copied these documents at the Northeast Document Conservation Center, with cooperation from Town Clerk Robin Michaud.

Washington’s Nov. 1, 1789 letter “To the Inhabitants of the Town of Marblehead” was written days after he visited Marblehead during a month long New England tour. Marblehead was not on the president’s itinerary, yet he insisted on visiting the hometown of his trusted General, John Glover, before landing in Salem.

Paul Revere’s letter was discovered by former Commission Collections Manager Wayne Butler in 2009 hidden away in a file cabinet in the basement of Abbot Hall and long forgotten. Revere’s letter was an attempt to purchase old cannons belonging to the Town for use in his new foundry in Boston.

Elbridge Gerry’s letter was written to the Selectmen accepting a Town Meeting appointment to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. It was obviously written quickly and is almost a scrawl. It was also found in the Abbot Hall basement files.

The Massachusetts General Court Resolution was signed by both signed by John Hancock and Samuel Adams and dealt with Marblehead’s longstanding poverty issues and back taxes owed but the Collector of Taxes, but withheld taxes from the Selectmen, who required the funds to fulfill their duties as “Overseers of the Poor.”