I began working in Newburyport City Hall in August 2007, relocated to the Clipper City a month later, and continue to meet new people and visit new places in my desire to learn all I can about the history of this Massachusetts port. After all, with NIMBYism dominant in society, I feel it is important to be informed so I can care more about goings-on.

I try to learn a new thing every day, and it usually occurs when I’m not looking for it. For instance, I was just researching online about the history of Newburyport and came across a reference to Byfield, which I assumed was a separate town but is in fact a village within the town of Newbury. Go figure.

What did I learn about the history? Newburyport was incorporated as a town in 1764 and as a city in 1851, and it stands today as the only community in the United States with that name.

Over 350 years ago, a group of British pioneers, after landing at Agawam (now called Ipswich), moved upriver and settled in 1635 at a Native American area called Wessacucon, and renamed it Newberry Plantation, comprising today’s communities of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury.

I don’t know Newbury and West Newbury that well. I’ve been to selected venues in Salisbury and Amesbury, but need to explore those communities more. Georgetown, Groveland, Rowley, Middleton… these are also on my hit list of people to meet, places to see, history and geography to learn.

A former newspaper reporter, I learned early on that everybody has a story to tell. Other Newburyport residents have their own presences in the blogosphere, and I’ll try to link to other blogs and local sites on the right. But this blog, like my other blog linked on my profile, is an attempt to tell my story about my life here: thoughts, musings, commentary. As I’m inspired, I’ll link to new restaurant reviews on Yelp and new pictures on Flickr.

Maybe the readers of this blog will learn something too.

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