The Lower Green High Road (Route 1A)
In May of 1635, a small group of immigrants rowed shallops to the mouth of the Parker River (then Quascacunquen) and landed on the north shore east of the present Parker River bridge, at a spot now marked by a commemorative boulder. All was wilderness about them, and the settlers spent the first summer clearing land, building shelters, raising crops, and gathering the natural bounty of fish and berries for the winter. Each man was allotted land for a house, with a planting lot and salt meadow, the size depending on the amount of money the individual or family had invested in the venture.
Historic Trees:
The Old Elm of Newbury and The Pearson Elm
The Old Elm of Newbury (photos 1 through 3), said to have been planted in 1713 by Richard Jaques in front of his house on Parker Street, was celebrated in verse and prose for many years. On June 16, 1913 the tree was blown down in a storm. The Pearson Elm (photo 4), in front of the Pearson House near the mills (Main Street, Byfield) was known as one of the finest specimens in the state, but was blown down December 3, 1898.
Devil's Den Boston Road, West of Four Rock Bridge
The first lime quarry in colonial Massachusetts, limestone was taken from the site beginning in 1697. Before this time, lime used for construction mortar was derived from oyster and clam shells. The name originated with local schoolboys who visited the abandoned quarry in the late 17th and early 18th century. Asbestos was also found in the quarry. Whittier alludes to the asbestos in "The Double-Headed Snake of Newbury" (1859) with the line "or the gray earth-flax of the Devil's Den."
Around South Byfield Elm Street and Middle Road, Byfield
Around South Byfield Elm Street and Middle Road, Byfield
Outdoors
Photographs from the John White Winder collection; courtesy of The Governor's Academy archive
Old Town Hill
The Upper Green
In 1646 the meetinghouse moved to the "new towne" at the Upper Green.
