The tiny seaside city of Marblehead, Massachusetts, performed an enormous position within the beginning of the U.S. Navy

It’s soothingly quiet now, however Marblehead’s picture-perfect horseshoe harbor was as soon as bustling with fishing schooners and service provider buying and selling vessels. But within the fall of 1775, this petite harbor on Boston’s North Shore performed an integral position within the begin of the United States Navy, which celebrates its 250th birthday this fall.

October 13 is the United States Navy’s official founding date, however the concept started in the summertime of 1775 when General George Washington took command of the Continental Army in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Though then below siege in Boston, the Royalists have been nicely fed and armed.

Thus, Washington fashioned the Continental Navy with Marblehead service provider Colonel John Glover, commander of the city’s land regiment. Together, they match Glover’s schooner, The Hannah, with cannons and created the USS Hannah, the Continental Navy’s founding vessel. It went on to combat the primary seaborne assault of the Revolutionary War.

The small Continental Navy took on the best naval power the world had ever identified and turned the tide on the Siege of Boston, which resulted in a Patriot victory in March 1776. Nearly 100 years later, the Marblehead Museum’s exhibit on the Revolutionary War is about to open in spring 2026.

Marblehead immediately

Marblehead’s lovely harbor is used for leisure boating now, however each boaters and land-bound guests are drawn to this sleepy city constructed on a rocky peninsula for its nicely preserved 18th century buildings, that are nonetheless a part of on a regular basis life.

“I believe it’s the largest concentration of 18th century buildings in the U.S.,” says Lauren McCormack, govt director on the Marblehead Museum. “If you took the cars away, the streets look like the way they did back then.” 

It’s quieter now, although again in 1775, “it was the sixth most populous place in the U.S.,” says McCormack. “It was an urban environment with lots of businesses supporting the maritime trade.”

What to do

Marblehead’s storied streets and shoreline make for pleasant strolling. Old Burial Hill dates to 1638 and is considered one of New England’s oldest graveyards. Adjacent is Redd’s Pond, named for Wilmott Redd, the one Marblehead resident convicted and hung throughout neighboring Salem’s witchcraft trials. Crocker Park has glorious views of the harbor and Devereux Beach is considered one of a number of seashores within the space.

(Salem casts a spell—even with out the witchcraft)

At the very finish of Marblehead Neck, close to Fort Sewall, Chandler Hovey Park reveals a few of the once-abundant eponymous marble, which was sheared off and used to construct Boston and past.

Marblehead was first residence to the Naumkeag, however in 1684 their land grew to become a part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1700, Marblehead’s thriving shipbuilding, service provider, and fishing companies created very rich retailers like Glover, and in a while, Massachusetts Governor, Elbridge Gerry, which is the place the time period gerrymandering comes from.

No marblehead service provider was extra rich than Colonel Jeremiah Lee, who constructed his flagship residence on Washington Street in 1768. Now a part of the Marblehead Museum, this huge construction is without doubt one of the most intact examples of Georgian structure wherever within the U.S. The grand corridor’s extensive plank mahogany flooring, matching commanding staircase, and painted by hand bespoke wallpaper imported from England, are a lot as Lee left them.

“It’s the only home left in the country to have intact, hand-painted, made-to-measure wallpaper like this,” says McCormack. “Stepping into the home now, it’s just as Lee would’ve seen it.”

The Marblehead Museum additionally oversees the “Civil War and Grand Army of the Republic” exhibit within the 1727-built Old Town House; and the gallery house on Washington Street housing primitive folks artist J. O. J. Frost’s work. Frost was born on Marblehead’s Front Street in 1852 and after retirement started portray scenes of the city’s each day life. 

“Frost tried to document his memories and stories older people had told him,” says McCormack. “He used house paints on wood board, which has meant the paintings maintain their vibrancy of color. They really haven’t aged.”

Another place to view historical past is Abbot Hall. Built in 1876 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Marblehead Historical Commission oversees many city treasures right here, together with the Maritime Museum and the deed signed between the Europeans and the Naumkeag.

One of Abbot Hall’s hottest artifacts is Ohio artist Archibald MacNeal Willard’s “The Spirit of ’76,” a large-scale romanticized portray depicting the Revolution 100 years earlier.

(This historic inn is situated the place the Revolutionary War started)

Where to remain and eat

In 18th century Marblehead, some of the standard native dishes was Lucretia Brown’s Joe Froggers, a big, smooth pancake-like cookie made out of flour, lard, molasses, spices, and rum. Lucretia and her husband, Joe, have been born into slavery, however freed when it grew to become unlawful to personal the kids of slaves. The couple ran Black Joe’s Tavern on Gingerbread Hill, the place they bought Joe Froggers. Local sailors would take them to sea, as they’d maintain nicely.

Lucretia’s Joe Froggers is without doubt one of the few markers of African American life in 18th-century Marblehead, and the recipe is held within the Smithsonian Libraries’ collections. You can even strive Joe Froggers at The Muffin Shop.

For a style of latter-day native life, cease in at The Barnacle, an off-the-cuff seafood restaurant and bar constructed atop a rock outcrop overlooking the harbor. The rear deck has marvelous water views and the small road facet out of doors bar—accessed by cautious navigation over uncovered rock—is the right perch to observe over city life.

The Hotel Marblehead is about in a renovated Victorian Gothic former residence on Pleasant Street, about 1.5 miles from downtown. Rooms and suites have a recent really feel and a nautical aptitude, and bikes can be found to borrow.

The Harbor Light Inn is a favourite for its central location on Washington Street. It has a small pool and a tavern serving drinks and informal bites.

(Lobster rolls and baklava ice cream: these are the dishes taking Boston by storm)