Historic Beverly

Join us for a special First Friday presentation with Thomas “Spirit Tree” Green of the Massachusett Tribe!

Thomas is a descendant of the Neponset band of the Massachusett Tribe and serves as a Tribal Council Member and Chairman of the Tribe's History Preservation Committee. Through his work as an Indigenous Culture Steward and Educator, he helps preserve and share the history and traditions of the Massachusett people.

From constructing traditional fish weirs and wetu (summer homes) to building mishoon (dugout canoes), Thomas has been involved in projects that reclaim and preserve Indigenous cultural practices.

Join us to learn about the Massachusett people, their history, and their enduring connections to this region before celebrating Indigenous culture and community at the Powwow at Naumkeag on Sunday!

⏰ IMPORTANT TIME CHANGE: This First Friday program begins at 11:00 AM, rather than our usual 2:00 PM!

This program is generously sponsored by Beverly 400+.

👻 FRIGHTFUL FRIDAY: The Haunted Halls of Endicott College

Have you heard about the haunted happenings at Endicott College?

With its historic buildings and sprawling seaside campus, Endicott College has no shortage of ghost stories! For decades, students have shared tales of unexplained occurrences, mysterious figures, and spirits that may still be wandering the halls.

At Reynolds Hall, students have reported seeing the ghostly figure of a young girl on the staircase or reflected in mirrors. Other strange happenings include furniture moving on its own, flickering lights, blinds opening and closing, and the unmistakable sound of marbles rolling across the floor when no one is there!

Over at Brindle Hall, the stories are just as unsettling. Residents have reported mysterious footsteps, ghostly apparitions, and even handprints appearing on the outside of fourth-floor windows! According to campus lore, some of these happenings may be connected to a spirit named Julie, who supposedly never left the building.

But perhaps Endicott's most famous supernatural resident is the mysterious "Pink Lady" of Winthrop Hall.

According to legend, the Pink Lady was a woman whose husband died at sea. Overcome with grief, she supposedly threw herself from the widow's walk of Winthrop Hall. Her spirit is said to still wander the building, sometimes appearing in a pink, white, or even blue gown. She's also reportedly responsible for paintings mysteriously turning upside down and belongings being rearranged. One story claims that attempts to straighten a particular painting result in it mysteriously returning to its upside-down position!

Are these encounters evidence of lingering spirits, or simply ghost stories passed down through generations of students? Whether fact or folklore, Endicott's haunted halls have become a fascinating part of Beverly's spooky history! 👻

Source: Endicott College, "Inside Endicott's 'Haunted' Houses" (2024).

🌀 Two pictures, one spinning surprise!

This week at the Cabot House, we're turning back the clock to the 1820s to make your own thaumatropes!

These fascinating optical toys were a popular form of entertainment in the nineteenth century. Thaumatropes feature two pictures on opposite sides of a disc attached to strings. When the strings are twisted and pulled, the disc spins so quickly that the two images appear to become one! One of the most popular designs featured a bird on one side and a cage on the other. When spun, the bird appeared inside the cage!

These simple toys weren't just entertaining. They also helped people explore how our eyes and brains process images and were part of the growing fascination with optical illusions that eventually contributed to the development of motion pictures.

Come by the Cabot House this week and make your own thaumatrope! Choose from a variety of templates, including some special Halloween designs, or create your own. Give it a spin and watch your pictures come together!

🎃 This activity is free and fun for all ages!

🕰: Thursday 12-8, Friday and Saturday 9:30-4
📍: 117 Cabot St. Beverly, MA

📷: An original thaumotrope from 1825, courtesy of wikimedia commons. Go here to see the thaumotrope in action: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Taumatropio_fiori_e_vaso,_1825.gif #/media/File:Taumatropio_fiori_e_vaso,_1825.gif

Attention social media detectives! If you like solving our unidentified people's posts, this one is for you! We have a photograph, from the Leslie Morgan collection, that shows a group of unidentified people riding their bicycles during the Dr. Paul Dudley White Bicycle race. The event occurred on June 21, 1968 and went from Beverly Farms to Lynch Park. If you recognize anyone, please let us know in the comments.

We ask for help identifying people in photographs for research purposes. The more information Historic Beverly has, the better. Once they have been recognized and their name has been added to our database, they become searchable. Historians, genealogists, friends, and family can now find their images and we can learn more about the individual behind the photograph.

📷: A photograph of a group of unidentified people riding bicycles from Historic Beverly's collection.

❤️ Love and Affection: An Unexpected Discovery in the Deeds

When researching the history of a house, you never know what interesting details might turn up, even in something as ordinary as a property deed!

Most deeds include a section known as the "consideration paid," which records what was exchanged in a property transaction. Often, this is a monetary amount or a phrase such as "$1 and other valuable considerations. During a recent house history research project, however, we came across something particularly unusual: a deed listing "love and affection" as the consideration paid!

The deed, dating to 1994, documents a woman becoming the legal guardian of her husband, who transferred his share of their home to her. Rather than a monetary payment, the consideration was listed as "love and affection."

Although this terminology serves a legal purpose, indicating that the property was transferred as a gift rather than sold, it's a fascinating reminder of the personal stories that can be uncovered through historical research.

Every house has a history, and sometimes that history is about more than the building itself!

Curious about the stories hiding in your own home's history? Historic Beverly's 40 in 400 House Plaque Program offers house history research and commemorative plaques. You can request either service or both! Contact [email protected] to learn more.

📜 Image: Detail from a property deed listing "Love and Consideration" as the consideration paid.

👻 FRIGHTFUL FRIDAY: The Deadly Potato Dispute 🥔

Earlier this week, we introduced the mysterious Isle of the Puritans, a spectral island said to appear off the Massachusetts coast. According to one bizarre nineteenth-century tale, at least one resident had VERY strong opinions about potatoes.

Our story follows an unnamed Essex County judge, described as loud and overbearing, but admired for his generosity and public spirit.

After purchasing seed potatoes at a Salem market, the judge stopped for dinner at a coastal inn. There, a wild-looking stranger noticed his parcel and demanded to know what was inside.

Potatoes?! The stranger was outraged!

He declared them a "scandalous vegetable," "twice as villainous" as to***co, and accused them of spreading dangerous religious doctrines. He even insisted that only Catholics and Episcopalians could possibly enjoy such dreadful things!

The judge, himself a proud Episcopalian, took offense, defended his faith, and declared that he intended to remain one until the day he died.

The stranger's chilling response? "You won't be one long, then. You'll die before the day is out."

The argument escalated until the stranger demanded to know why the judge was carrying potatoes around the countryside to "debauch the minds and spoil the stomachs" of his fellow citizens. He then furiously kicked and trampled the judge's potatoes before storming out!

The judge chased after him, demanding his name. The stranger identified himself as Goff of the Isle of the Puritans. But before the judge could protest that no such island existed, Goff vanished!

An absurd argument over vegetables? Perhaps. But less than a mile from the inn, the judge's carriage overturned, killing him instantly, just as Goff had predicted.

This wonderfully strange tale appeared in an 1857 issue of Harper's Magazine and was also published in the Salem Gazette. Whether intended as a supernatural warning, a satire of Puritan religious intolerance, or simply an entertaining piece of folklore, it offers a fascinating glimpse into how nineteenth-century New Englanders imagined the ghosts of their colonial past.

📷: Peasants Fighting in a Tavern by van Ostade and Dusart

Sharing this for the BFD. Looks like a ton of fun!🤩

Our annual Open House is this Saturday!

Come on down and see what we do!!!

This Saturday!

Join us for a delightfully weird and wonderful Member Morning at Hale Farm, where you’ll meet 10 objects from the Historic Beverly collection and try to figure out their stories.

You’ll have clues. You’ll have questions. You’ll have theories.
You may also be completely, hilariously wrong.
And that’s the point!

Because historians don’t just look at objects. They ask questions, make connections, test theories, and sometimes have to admit they have absolutely no idea what they’re looking at.

❤️ 10 objects
🔎 One morning
🧠 Lots of guesses
🎉Tons of FUN!
✨ A few big reveals

Come meet the objects. One of them might be your perfect historical match.

📍 Hale Farm
📅October 24
🕰 9:30am
🎟️ Free for Historic Beverly members only
📋Register here: https://historicbeverly.net/event/member-mornings-object-speed-dating-at-hale-farm/

🆕Not an HB member? Join the collection-loving club here: https://historicbeverly.net/product/historic-beverly-membership/

👻 Have you heard the legend of the Isle of the Puritans?

Imagine standing along the North Shore on a foggy autumn evening when, somewhere out at sea, you hear the distant ringing of church bells. Then, through the mist, the sails of a ghostly ship appear, only to vanish as quickly as they came.

During the nineteenth century, stories circulated along the Massachusetts coast about a mysterious spectral island said to appear through the mist. Fishermen and coastal residents reportedly heard solemn bells ringing from somewhere out at sea, strange hymns rising above the sounds of violent storms, and saw ghostly ships appearing and disappearing along the horizon.

But who, or what, was said to inhabit this mysterious island? And what did it have to do with the Salem witch trials of 1692?

The legend was so well known that an account appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1857, preserving a particularly haunting piece of North Shore folklore.

Want to know more? Join us for Wicked Beverly: Witches & Monsters on the North Shore as we uncover the stories, legends, and mysterious happenings that have fascinated North Shore residents for centuries!

📅 Friday, October 30
🕕 6 PM and 8 PM
🎟️ $5 for Historic Beverly members, $10 for non-members

🔗 Reserve your spot: https://historicbeverly.net/event/wicked-beverly-witches-monsters-on-the-north-shore-walking-tour-3/

💋 LOOKING FOR A GOOD TIME WITH A HISTORIC OBJECT? ♥

We’re not saying you should get emotionally attached to a 200-year-old object…

But we are saying that Object Speed Dating can get pretty intimate. 😉

Join us for a delightfully hands-on Member Morning at Hale Farm, where you’ll have the chance to get up close and personal with 10 mystery objects from the Historic Beverly collection.

You’ll examine them.
Ask questions.
Make guesses.
Try to figure out who used them and what they were used for.
And then comes the big reveal. 👀

Some objects may sweep you off your feet. Others may leave you wondering, “What exactly am I looking at?”

Either way, you’ll leave with a better understanding of how historians use objects to uncover the stories of the past.

📍 Hale Farm
📅October 24
🕰 9:30am
🎟️ Free for Historic Beverly members only
📋Register here: https://historicbeverly.net/event/member-mornings-object-speed-dating-at-hale-farm/

🆕Not an HB member? Join the collection-loving club here: https://historicbeverly.net/product/historic-beverly-membership/