Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1281965
104 IPSWICH HAS MORE FIRST PERIOD HOMES— houses built during the colonial period from 1626 to 1725—than any other town in the country, and perhaps there's no better place to see them than in Ipswich's East End neigh- borhood. at's why when town historian and chair- man of the Ipswich Historical Commission Gordon Harris leads his historic walking tours through town, the East End comprises two- thirds of what he likes to show people. "You don't see that in other places," he says of the architecture. "You don't see houses that were built in the 1600s and the 1700s." e East End was "traditionally kind of a working-class area" for those employed in the maritime industry, Harris says of the neighborhood's history. But unlike Ipswich's downtown, it's "a little off the beaten path. It doesn't have a highway running through it," he says. "e East End is really the calmest and most easygoing part of Ipswich." Situated along the Ipswich River, the East End offers lovely places to stroll for those who venture away from downtown, like Turkey Shore Road. ere's also the Green Street Bridge, a double-arch stone bridge that may not be the town's most famous or the country's oldest—those distinctions go to the town's Choate Bridge—but is the one that Harris thinks is the "most beautiful." All that history doesn't detract from what's really special about the East End, though: the people who live there and who treasure and preserve the homes and history that are still Ipswich's East End stitched into the fabric of their daily lives. "Ipswich isn't really a tourist town…. It's a town where people live," Harris says. "A lot of people have roots." Harris notes one man who still lives in a house that was built by his four-times-great-grandfather, a house that has never been sold. Harris also says it's a creative community, home to lots of artists and photographers. In fact, there's typically (in non-COVID times) an annual East End Open Studio tour featuring the work of East End artists. "You're in a place where people really have a sense of belonging," Gordon says. "I never felt I belonged anywhere until I lived here." Ipswich has more First Period houses than any other town in the country. Children's book author Ed Emberly lives in Ipswich. Above, The Green Street Bridge. LIVING HISTORY PHOTOGRAPHS BY JARED CHARNEY N O R T H S H O R E N E I G H B O R H O O D S