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July 27, 2009

Walking tour looks at local black history

By Katie Farrell

NEWBURYPORT — Tours of the city's cemeteries have long been a part of Yankee Homecoming festivities.

The late Todd Woodworth, a longtime Yankee Homecoming volunteer, ran tours of Oak Hill Cemetery for years and was later joined by his daughter Ghlee, sharing stories of the notable Newburyporters buried there.

But this year, Ghlee Woodworth is adding a new tour to her schedule, looking at the rich history of African Americans in Newburyport in the 19th century.

"It was quite a large community here in Newburyport," Woodworth said.

During the walking tour, Woodworth will share parts of the research she's uncovered over the last several months as she's looked into the city's African American history in the mid- to late-1800s.

Starting from Brown Square across from City Hall, the tour makes several stops before concluding at Old Hill Burying Ground. Woodworth said she's found names of about 250 African Americans who lived in Newburyport during that time.

The two-hour walking tour will run twice during Homecoming, where she'll tell some of their tales.

Woodworth will discuss abolitionist William Ashby and his "laurel parties" for family and friends at what is now Maudslay State Park, which were eventually attended by John Greenleaf Whittier and William Lloyd Garrison.

She'll talk about Richard Plumer, a grocer on State Street, who would take his horse and wagon to the Parker River Bridge and pick up runaways escaping slavery. He would then take them to West Newbury or across the Chain Bridge to Salisbury Point, now Amesbury, where he would give them to other underground agents who would take them further in their escape to freedom.

During a stop at the First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist, Woodworth will speak about the Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who would give sermons on the abolition of slavery from the church's pulpit, drawing controversy.

African Americans in post-Civil War Newburyport worked in a variety of trades and businesses, from barbers to silversmiths. They were stablemen, restaurant owners, carpenters and hat makers.

"They were very involved in business in Newburyport," she said.

In addition to the African American history tour, Woodworth will add a new cemetery crawl this year where participants will visit three cemeteries: Highland, Oak Hill and St. Paul's. That tour will start on Thursday, July 30, at 10 a.m., meeting at Highland Cemetery on Hill Street. There is a $2 admission fee that goes toward Yankee Homecoming activities.

The African American history tour will be today, starting at 10 a.m., and Wednesday, starting at 2 p.m. Participants will meet at Brown Square. There is also a $2 fee for that tour.

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Walking tour looks at local black history
by By Katie Farrell , , Mon Jul 27, 2009, 03:56 AM EDT

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