Swampscott.Org - Swampscott, Massachusetts
Swampscott, Massachusetts
The first signs of a permanent and established seafaring fishing settlement in a beach area measuring just a little over three square miles just north of Lynn, Massachusetts date back to the early part of 1629 with the building of the first Massachusetts Bay Colony tannery on Humphrey’s Brook. Its early residents were crafts people of modest means with about thirty five percent being fisherman and most of the rest were shoemakers known as cordwainers, shoe cutters known as clickers, yeomen, farmers and merchants. There is credible evidence, however, that this same area attracted hordes of indigenous Native Americans who were referred to as Naumkeags for hunting and fishing decades earlier and that these Native Americans named it “the land of the red rock.”
In the late 1700s, an entrepreneurial fisherman named Ebenezer Phillips learned how to dry fish from the Naumkeags and set up a processing plant for drying cod which were then put into barrels and sold to ports all over the world. Phillips’ cod drying and exporting business became so successful and earned him so much money that he is counted among the first millionaires in the United States.
It was not until 1852 when this settlement was officially incorporated into Essex County of Massachusetts as the town of Swampscott. Throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century and on through the beginning of the twentieth century a number of impressively grand resorts were built in Swampscott and they attracted many rich and famous patrons seeking the ideal summer vacation spot from across the United States as well as from other nearby and faraway countries. This earned Swampscott the distinction of being the first resort town in the United States. To accommodate the tremendous influx of summer visitors and to supplement the luxurious resorts, many hotels and boarding houses of more modest natures were built in and around Swampscott. Unfortunately, due to numerous fires and countless severe coastal storms all these establishments have been destroyed.
Some of the wealthy summer resort patrons fell in love with the area and decided to bring their families and stay. Therefore, they built magnificent stately homes for fulltime residency or as summer homes, a fact which, of course, added to Swampscott’s overall economy as well as its diverse history. Many of these notable homes have since been listed with the National Register of Historic Places.
To be counted among Swampscott’s nationally or internationally famous citizens are: David Lee Roth, Lead singer of Van Halen; Dick Jauron, Head coach of NFL’s Buffalo Bills; Todd McShay, ESPN NFL draft prospect analyst; Leslie Stahl, CBS 60 Minutes correspondent; Carol Brady (fictional) Brady Bunch mother grew up here; Mike Lynch, principal sports anchor at WCVB-TV Channel 5; Barry Goudreau, the lead guitarist of the rock groups Boston and the Lisa Guyer Band; Johnny Pesky, Former Red Sox third baseman and now pro baseball coach; Bill Adams, a retired player for the Buffalo Bills and Ken Linesman, former Bruins player.
Two very significant inventions in the international fishing industry earned Swampscott recognition and world acclaim. The first of these was the invention of the “lobster pot” by one of its forward thinking citizens, Ebenezer Thorndike, in 1808 and was considered to have forever revolutionized lobster harvesting. The second was the invention of a fishing boat named the Swampscott Dory in 1840 by a gentleman named Ralfus Brackett. This boat was designed to pull lobster pots and is still in use today.
Swampscott of these days is still a serene spot along the north shore of the Atlantic Ocean and is primarily a residential small town of approximately 14,500 which includes the tiny village of Beach Bluff and the even smaller unincorporated community of Clifton.
For more valuable and up-to-date information abut Swampscott, Massachusetts and its immediate surrounds, I would suggest a visit to http://www.city-date.com/city/Swampscott-Massachusetts.html
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