Swett-Ilsley House, Newbury, Essex Co., Massachusetts

The house is surrounded by too many green shrubs.

This was the first house of the HistoricNewEngland.org historic sites I visited this year. And the first visit I made without my husband with me. Another first is this is the first property purchased by the Historic New England in 1911.

Swett-Ilsley House

4 High Road

Newbury, Mass. 01951

Website: https://www.historicnewengland.org/property/swett-ilsley-house/

About 12 of the visitors waited in the above room for the tour to begin. We learned about the history of the house additions and the families. This is one of the very few homes without furniture that HistoricNewEngland has. I visited on July 1, 2023.

From the HistoricNewEngland.org site, 

"The original portion, built in 1670 by Stephen Swett, was one room deep, and later additions more than doubled the size of the house. Over the centuries the building served as a tavern, chocolate shop, chandlery, and tea room, in part due to its location on Newbury’s most traveled road."

Back of the fireplace, see the man looking in. This fireplace was Amazing.

The fireplace is so huge that we could all could fit inside.

So many doors.

Up on the second floor.

At some point, a person decided there should be a bathroom.

A modern skylight. (Not really.)

Leaving the second floor. You have to be very careful going down.

Backyard. I checked out this site almost a month before they gave the tours. Somebody lives in the back rooms, but I was able to walk around and enjoy the peonies on June 14th.

Lawrence Public Library, Lawrence, Massachusetts -- (See The Resources for Genealogists)

 Lawrence Public Library

51 Lawrence St, Lawrence, MA 01841
Phone: (978) 620-3600
https://www.lawrencepl.org/

Looking down on the front parking area.

I'm taking a photo of the Library with the Lawrence High School behind me (and in front).

 

Reference Desk on the main floor. Children's area to the right.

Miscellaneous reading rooms, all large with huge windows.

I was so impressed with the size of the room and the number of books about Lawrence. Since I was there on a Saturday, I shouldn't have been in this room because it was closed. However, a reference librarian took heart and unlocked the door just so I could take photos on May 28, 2022.

How I love seeing old card catalog boxes. I didn't look in to see if they were written on.

Overlooking the huge Campagnone Common. Opposite the library is the city hall.

About 20 years ago I spent quite a bit of time in the Clerk's Office alone pulling 15 vital record cards for the clerk to type up for me. It was the only place I was able to manually look through all their records. "You are invited to conduct record searches or to engage someone on your behalf to search the vital records maintained in the Office of the City Clerk." See: https://www.cityoflawrence.com/338/Genealogy-Searches

Research requests can be directed to Reference Librarian & Special Collections Archivist, Lindsey L. Gazlay on the second floor of the main library.

51 Lawrence St. Lawrence, MA 01841

lgazlay@cityoflawrence.com

978-620-3615

Collections

• Books and serials encompassing these topics:

  • Catholicism

  • Genealogy

  • History of the United States with an emphasis on New England

  • Labor, textiles, and textile history

• Library of the Pacific Mills

  • Remains of a library once used by employees of the mill and given to the Library

• Posters of World War I and II

• Lawrence Public Library collection on Digital Commonwealth

• Lawrence Public Library collection on the Internet Archive, including Lawrence High School yearbooks

Pelham Public adcxLibrary, Pelham, New Hampshire -- See The Resources for Genealogists

 

The Pelham Public Library in New Hampshire was the first library I visited in over three years. I chose this because I learned it was new, I knew the assistant director and it wasn't far from my Massachusetts residence, I knew the area. Photos taken on April 18, 2022.

Since Pelham is a small town, 14,000 people in 2018. I didn't expect the library to have a lot in the way of history/genealogy books. Below are what I found. I was told the Historical Society was active and had a lot of material. However, it was closed on this day.

Pelham Public Library

24 Village Green

Pelham, New Hampshire 03076

Phone: (603) 635-7581

The books are kept in the cabinet shown below. It is very near the reference desk as you enter the building.

The library used to be in the building that is now the Pelham Historical Society.

The website is: https://pelhamhistory.org/