SUNDAY, AUGUST 15, 2010 The Impulsive Traveler Newburyport, beyond the sea BY ZOFIA SMARDZ Poor John P. Marquand. Gone from
famous 20th-century writer to near-ob- scurity in amere 50 years. Sic transit, I think mournfully, gaz-
ing at the little blackRoyal portable and the typewrittenmanuscript in the worn manila folder beside it. He actually typed those pages himself, I think. But who cares anymore, inthis Internet age? I’min the John P.Marquand Library
in theCustomHouseMaritimeMuseum in Newburyport,Mass., a roomdevoted to the patrician author who apparently hailed from this coastal town (and wrote about it in some of his books and kept a home here). I never knew that, even though I grew up just a few burgs over and read “The Late George Apley,” Marquand’s Pulitzer-winning novel about the decline of the Protestant elite, in high school. To think that he was practicallymy townsman. It gives me a little thrill, but appar-
ently not somuch anybody else. At least not today. I’ve been in the room for a good 15 minutes, ogling the furniture and possessions that Marquand be- queathed to the Newburyport Marine Society upon his death in 1960. There are plenty of other visitors in the building, but not one soul haswandered in to join me. They’re all sticking to the nautical stuff. In the hallway, my well-read sister
stops at the door and scans the plaque above it. “Who’s John P.Marquand?” she asks. Poor J.P. Okay, it’s true.He’s a little out ofplace
in a museum with “maritime” in its name. I know Newburyport’s a seafar- ing town, not a literary one. But that’s why I’m so tickled to discover his connection to it. Such a tantalizing hidden detail. And apparently only one of many that I’ve been totally oblivious to all these years. The things I’ve always been aware of
about this pretty, church-spired little city of 17,000 on Massachusetts’s North Shore: the Grog, a friendly pub that’s our favorite lunchtime watering hole; the many fabulous little shops along State Street and Market Square (not a chain name among them!); Fowle’s, with its old-fashioned soda fountain, wherewe go for newspapers and nostal- gia;Oldie’sMarketplace, the fleamarket in a lumber barn where my sister and I have scavenged some choice finds over the years. To name just a few. Oh, and of course the waterfront.
Settled in 1635 as part of the larger town of Newbury (it broke off as an indepen- dent town in 1764), Newburyport sits right at the mouth of the Merrimack River, where the swift-flowing current meets the Atlantic Ocean. This means, of course, that it’s a boater’s heaven. On beautiful sunny days, we’ll boat down the river from my sister’s home in Newton, N.H., about eight miles away, and we’ll have to weave our way among scores of sailboats and motor craft pockmarking the harbor to dock at the pier. It alsomeans that the town’s identity
long centered around fishing, shipping and shipbuilding. And you see the fruits of those industries everywhere. Lots of the big houses on fashionable
VT. N.Y. Springfield Hartford CONNECTICUT R.I.
Atlantic Ocean
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High Street—such as the 21-roomCaleb Cushing House, home of the man who signed the first U.S. trade treaty with China in 1844 and now a museum — were owned by shipbuilders or ships’ captains. In the old days, we’d drive home from nearby Salisbury Beach through town, lusting after these grand colonials with their fanlight doorways and widow’s walks, where I pictured sorrowful black-clad women gazing out to sea, pining for husbands who would never come home. Newburyport did always seem more romantic than scruffyHaverhill,my home town. This trip, though, I’m out to find a
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different Newburyport, one I’m not so familiar with. And here it is: At the CustomHouse,we learn that the town is considered the birthplace of the Coast Guard, because the fledglingU.S.Navy’s first revenue cutter, the Massachusetts, was built and launched here in 1791. There’s still a Coast Guard station in town, but it no longer uses the whimsi- cal-looking Rear Range Light, tucked cheek-by-jowl beside a building on Wa-
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Merrimack R.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston
Atlantic Ocean
Providence Newburyport
ter Street. The 53-foot lighthouse is privately owned, and you can have dinner there if you’rewilling to shell out $350 as a preservation donation. We passed this time, but next summer. . . . The CustomHouse itself, a beautiful
Classical Revival stone building, was designed byRobertMills ofWashington Monument fame. In Market Square downtown, a marker commemorates theNewburyport Tea Party of 1773. They burned the stuff; somuchmore dramat- ic than Boston’s dumping three days later, don’t you think? We take a self-guided walking tour
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that’s like a historical treasure hunt. Because you know, just about everybody who was anybody in colonial days was in Newburyport at one time or another. See the part of the public library that looks like an old house? It’s the former Tracy Mansion, Nathaniel Tracy being another shippingmerchant, who enter- tained George Washington, John Quin- cy Adams (he clerked in law here) and Benedict Arnold (before his turncoat days) in his home. Across downtown, in Brown Square
by city hall, look — a statue of William Lloyd Garrison. Who knew that the firebrand abolitionist was born here, and gave the anti-slavery movement some of his early rabid shoutouts from this square? (Well, my sister did, so she gets a pass onMarquand.) We’re locked out of the Old South
Presbyterian Church, so we can’t see where the rock-star 18th-century evan- gelist George Whitefield is buried in a crypt beneath the pulpit. Andwe search high and low for the Old Jail, corner- stone laid by Lafayette, beforewe deter- mine that it must be that private build-
IFYOUGO
Want to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Newburyport, Mass.? Here’swhat you need to knowfor theweekend of Aug. 20-22:
GETTING THERE Southwest has nonstop flights from BWI Marshall to Boston, with fares starting at $190 round-trip. Newburyport is about 37 miles north of Boston.
WHERE TO STAY Essex Street Inn 7 Essex St. 978-465-3148
www.essexstreetinn.com Steps from downtown and the waterfront; 37 rooms and suites from $135.
Clark-Currier Inn 45 Green St. 978-465-8363
www.clarkcurrierinn.com An eight-bedroom B&B in an early-19th- century “square house.” Rooms from $145.
WHERE TO EAT The Grog 13 Middle St. 978-465-8008
thegrog.com Homey pub that started after the CivilWar as the Ladies’ and Gents’ Oyster House. Sandwiches from $7.25, entrees from $11.95.
Black CowTap&Grill 54R Merrimac St. 978-499-8811
www.blackcowrestaurants.com Seafood and other eats in an elegant building by the water. Lunch entrees from $11.
ZOFIA SMARDZ/THE WASHINGTON POST
Awalking tour ofNewburyport,Mass., can turn into a historical treasure hunt because of the town’s connections to such figures asGeorgeWashington, John Quincy Adams and Benedict Arnold.
ing just up the driveway with the “No Trespassing” sign on it. Oh, well. We’ve been pulled away from the
river by now, up the hill into the higher heart of town, a part I don’t know so well.But oh. It’sbeautiful.Especially the Old Burying Ground and the Bartlett Mall. That’s “mal” as in “pal.” I know, it sounds weird, but that’s how they say it in London, and this restful, verdant oasis, centered on a sunken pond in a glacier-cut “kettle hole,” features a tree- lined promenade modeled after the English capital’s Pall Mall. It was the place, no doubt, for ladies and gents of the Victorian era to take the air of a Sunday afternoon. They probably wouldn’t have been caught dead down by the river with all the rabble. These days, though, it’s just the
opposite. On this blazing hot afternoon, the mall is silent and deserted but for two unkempt-looking fellows on a benchunder a tree.All the action’sdown in Waterfront Park, where people stroll along the riverside boardwalk and mill about on the grass. On one end of the dock, five young guys sing an a capella doo-wop version of “Crazy Love”; at the other, anolder guywith a guitar delivers Dylan and Denver. Boats start up their engines and
lanyards clink against tall masts in the breeze. A harbor boat tour passes by. Folks stream toward Oldie’s, and I’ll want to do the same soon, for more hidden treasures. But first I must give my husband lunch at the Grog, and of course I can’t leave without hitting my favorite shops. Like the bookstore. I’m thinking that maybe I’ll pick up some John P.Marquand.
smardzz@washpost.com
WHAT TO DO Custom House Maritime Museum 25Water St. 978-462-8681
www.thechmm.org Newburyport’s nautical (and literary) history on display. Open May to December, Tuesday- Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday noon to 4 p.m. Adults $7; seniors and students $5.
Caleb Cushing House Museum 98 High St. 978-462-2681
www.newburyhist.com Grand colonial houses the Historical Society of Old Newbury. Open June through October, Wednesday-Sunday noon to 5 p.m.
Newburyport Harbor Tours 603-682-2293
www.harbortours.com Learn about harbor history and ecology. Narrated 45-minute tours depart hourly between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m. during the summer. $16, kids younger than 12 $8.
INFORMATION
www.newburyportchamber.org
—Z.S.
All flight and lodging information valid as of press time Thursday.
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KK EZ EE
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