“Newburyport Clipper Heritage Trail: Volume II” by Ghlee E. Woodworth

Newburyport Clipper Heritage Trail: Volume II – A Series of Self-Guided History Tours

Ghlee E. Woodworth
Independently Published (2022)
ISBN 978-1792332074
Reviewed by Jill Rey for Reader Views (1/2023)

Newburyport, Massachusetts, is a small coastal town just outside of Boston. Settled in 1635, its port was incorporated in 1764, officially making it Newburyport. At just 647 acres, Newburyport was the smallest town in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but as readers will quickly learn via the pages of “Newburyport Clipper Heritage Trail: Volume II” this small-town packs a lot of history and achievements. So, as readers return to the banks of the Merrimack River in this second volume, we are taken through nine more walking history tours, showing us more of what Newburyport has to offer. 

So many incredible accomplishments are packed away in this small town on the eastern coast of the United States. As author Ghlee E. Woodworth details across these pages, the people of Newburyport are certainly extraordinary and lend to some incredible historical feats. For instance, Newburyport is the birthplace of the Coast Guard, John Pearson Sr. of Newburyport owned Pearson’s Bakery, which was originally created to serve hardtack biscuits to ships and later became Nabisco. The Newburyport Superior Courthouse is the oldest continuously operating courthouse in the United States, and so many more fun and unique facts are held within. 

Written as a series of nine walking tours around the city, this second volume builds on an already incredible first volume. Both volumes are laid out in similar ways and hold a combination of written words and pictures across each of the pages. Traversing us across new areas of the city, volume two spans Frog Pond, the South End Neighborhood, the water’s edge, Midtown and more. Woodworth’s writing, and no doubt years of work to compile this read, is fascinating for even the non-history lovers, making readers want to immediately book a vacation to see all these sights. Woodworth shows us the town as it was and injects bits of how it is now.

Newburyport holds many fascinating historical gems, from the buildings to the commerce, the people, and the trailblazers. “Newburyport Clipper Heritage Trail: Volume II” tells the tales through pictures, commentary, and written excerpts. I can’t imagine a more cumulative work has ever been completed for this town as Woodworth paves the way for its history to be relished for centuries to come.