Essex Reconnaissance Report
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ESSEX RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ESSEX COUNTY LANDSCAPE INVENTORY MASSACHUSETTS HERITAGE LANDSCAPE INVENTORY PROGRAM Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Essex National Heritage Commission PROJECT TEAM Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Jessica Rowcroft, Preservation Planner Division of Planning and Engineering Essex National Heritage Commission Bill Steelman, Director of Heritage Preservation Project Consultants Shary Page Berg Gretchen G. Schuler Virginia Adams, PAL Local Project Coordinators Helen Bethell Martha Hoar Local Heritage Landscape Committee Helen Bethell Jim Bubrendorf Elizabeth Faye Martha Hoar Courtney Peckham Margaret Wheeler May 20 INTRODUCTION Essex County is known for its unusually rich and varied landscapes, which are represented in each of its 34 municipalities. Heritage landscapes are places that are created by human interaction with the natural environment. They are dynamic and evolving; they reflect the history of the community and provide a sense of place; they show the natural ecology that influenced land use patterns; and they often have scenic qualities. This wealth of landscapes is central to each community’s character; yet heritage landscapes are vulnerable and ever changing. For this reason it is important to take the first steps towards their preservation by identifying those landscapes that are particularly valued by the community – a favorite local farm, a distinctive neighborhood or mill village, a unique natural feature, an inland river corridor or the rocky coast. To this end, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the Essex National Heritage Commission (ENHC) have collaborated to bring the Heritage Landscape Inventory program (HLI) to communities in Essex County. The primary goal of the program is to help communities identify a wide range of landscape resources, particularly those that are significant and unprotected. The focus is on landscapes that have not been identified in previous survey efforts in a given community. Another important goal of the program is to provide communities with strategies for preserving heritage landscapes. The methodology for the Heritage Landscape Inventory program was developed in a Pilot Project conducted in southeast Massachusetts. It is outlined in the DCR publication Reading the Land which has provided guidance for the program in Essex County. In short, each participating community appoints a Local Project Coordinator (LPC) to assist the DCR-ENHC consulting team. The LPC organizes a heritage landscape identification meeting at which interested residents and town officials offer community input by identifying potential heritage landscapes. This meeting is followed by a fieldwork session including the consulting team and the LPC, usually accompanied by other community members. This group visits the priority landscapes identified in the meeting and gathers information about the community. The final product is the Reconnaissance Report, prepared for each participating community. It outlines the history of the community; identifies the resources and documentation that provide background information; provides a short description of the priority heritage landscapes visited; discusses planning issues identified by the community; and concludes with a brief discussion of survey and planning recommendations. A list of all of the heritage landscapes identified by the community is included in the Appendix. ESSEX HISTORY Essex’s distinctive coastal landscape features were instrumental in shaping the history of the community from the earliest Native American use of the land to the 19th century boat making, fishing and farming. Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program 1 Essex Reconnaissance Report Native American sites date back to the Woodland period of development (1,000 B.C.E.-1,500 C.E.). The first European settlement in 1634 in Essex was known as Ipswich’s Chebacco Parish. By 1673 the Essex River hosted grist and saw mills as well as boat building. The first meetinghouse was not established here until 1679 and was the center of Ipswich’s eighth parish. The town remained a parish of Ipswich until 1819 when the area was incorporated as the town of Essex; however the final boundaries with Gloucester and Hamilton fluctuated until the 20th century. The early agricultural settlement during the Plantation Period (1620-1675) in outlying areas of Essex was sustained by growing fruit and vegetable crops as well as hemp, flax and the harvesting of salt marsh hay. By the Colonial Period (1675-1775) fishing became an important part of the local economy. The saw mills on the Essex River were the sustenance of the substantial ship building industry here. Chebacco boats, characteristic of the area, were built on the Essex River and used for fishing. In fact at the turn of the 19th century there were more than 2,000 Chebaccos in Essex and nearby seafaring towns. In the early 1800s there was a shift to large ship building and ancillary businesses such as the manufacturing of ropes and lines, sails, masts, pumps and blocks. Fishing, including clamming, remained important to the economic base. For a brief time up to the 1870s, small shoe manufacturing establishments were successful, until the industry yielded to Lynn, the center of shoe making. In the early 1800s several bridges were built over the Essex River including Great Bridge in 1824 which was a draw bridge carrying the Causeway over the River. The Essex Canal Company was established in 1820 and a canal was dredged from the Chebacco River to Fox Creek to bring lumber from the Merrimac Valley. Essex had three centers of industrial activity: at the Falls in the west, the Causeway at the central village near the mouth of the Essex River, and South Essex. These three districts were not well linked until the mid-19th century after the construction of Martin Street between the Falls and the Causeway, which already linked the central village with South Essex. The introduction of the railroad occurred in 1872 when the Essex Branch of the B&M Railroad was extended from Wenham to Essex Center. This railroad line was further extended in 1887 to South Essex and in the 1890s it connected with the Gloucester Street Railway and the Salem and Lynn Street Railway. In the early 1900s the Essex River was dredged to accommodate larger ships. Essex’s population fluctuated only slightly throughout the traditional periods of development. In the early 20th century there were 1,677 residents which dropped to 1,384 in 1940. In the second half of the 20th century the population rose substantially to 3,260 in 1990. However, this number is low compared to surrounding communities. This is accounted for in part by the lack of areas suitable for development due to the high water table, clay deposits (poor drainage) and rock ledges. Massachusetts Heritage Landscape Inventory Program 2 Essex Reconnaissance Report RESOURCES AND DOCUMENTATION Inventory of Historic Assets The Massachusetts Historical Commission’s (MHC) Inventory of Historic and Archaeological Assets is a statewide list that identifies significant historic resources throughout the Commonwealth. In order to be included in the inventory, a property must be documented on an MHC inventory form, which is then entered into the MHC database. This searchable database, known as MACRIS, is now available online at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc. According to the MHC, Essex’s inventory documents 98 resources dating from 1678 to 1927. Most of the documentation was completed in 1979; the survey is informative, but does not provide the level and type of detail than present day survey methodology requires. In December 2004 thorough documentation of Conomo Point as an area, prepared by a preservation planning consultant, was submitted to the MHC. State and National Registers of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places is the official federal list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects that have been determined significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering and culture. Essex’s National Register (NR) program began in 1983 with the listing of the David Burnham House on Pond Street. Subsequent listings include Cogswell’s Grant in 1990 and two properties through the 1990 First Period Thematic Nomination: the George Giddings House and Barn as a district and the Benaiah Titcomb House as an individual listing. One other property, the Lt. Samuel Giddings House was recommended for listing under the First Period nomination; however only a determination of eligibility (DOE) was made. All National Register properties also are included in the State Register of Historic Places. Three Essex properties are protected by preservation restrictions drawn up in accordance with MGL Chapter 183, Sections 31-33. A preservation restriction (PR) runs with the deed and is one of the strongest preservation strategies available. All properties that have PRs filed under the state statute are automatically listed in the State Register. The Essex properties for which there are PRs include Cogswell’s Grant (PR-1977), Essex Town Hall-Burnham Memorial Library (PR-1984) and the Reverend Theophilus Pickering House (PR-1982). Planning Documents The 1997 Open Space and Recreation Plan (OSRP) identifies land that should be preserved and establishes a time line in which to carry out the necessary actions to acquire land or interest in land. For instance one recommended course of action was to encourage the use of agricultural