Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts
A Short History of Manchester-by-the-Sea
From one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts, to a working fishing port, to a Gilded Age summer colony, to the close Town Meeting vote in 1989 that gave the town the name it carries today.
One of the Oldest Towns in Massachusetts
English colonists first settled this stretch of the coast in 1629, when it was still part of Salem. In 1645 the Great and General Court incorporated it as a town in its own right, drawing its land from Salem and Gloucester, which makes Manchester-by-the-Sea one of the oldest towns in the Commonwealth. From the beginning its business was decided in Town Meeting, the same form of direct democracy that still votes the budget today.
A Fishing Port
For more than two hundred years the town lived mainly from the sea. Its harbor sent out fishing boats, and generations of families made their living on the water and in the boatyards along the shore. That working waterfront is the reason the town grew where it did, and the harbor is still at the center of town life, which is why residents have voted to spend real money keeping it dredged and open.
The Summer Colony
Beginning around 1845 the town became a fashionable seaside resort for Boston society, and the Gilded Age left its mark along the shore in the form of grand summer estates. Houses like Sunnywaters, built in 1863, and the shingle-style Kragsyde, completed in 1885, drew wealthy families out from the city for the season. It was in this era that the town gained its reputation as a summer place, and the writers and publishers who came out for the summer helped fix its identity by the sea.
Singing Beach
The town’s best-known landmark is Singing Beach, named for the way its sand squeaks, or sings, when you walk across it. It is a public beach, and along with the harbor and the protected woods and headlands nearby, it is a big part of why residents care so much about how the town manages its coastline, an issue that comes up again and again at Town Meeting and before the Conservation Commission.
The Name, by Two Votes
The phrase Manchester-by-the-Sea was in familiar use long before it was official, and it is often traced to the Boston publisher James T. Fields, who was part of the town’s summer literary set in the 1870s. For most of its history, though, the town was simply named Manchester. In 1989 residents voted at Town Meeting to make Manchester-by-the-Sea the official name, in part to set the town apart from Manchester, New Hampshire, and the change was ratified by a state Special Act. The Town Meeting vote was as close as they come, 97 to 95, which is a fitting reminder that in this town even the name on the sign was decided by the people in the room.
Sources: Town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, About Manchester-by-the-Sea (manchester.ma.us); the Manchester-by-the-Sea Museum (Manchester Historical Society); Wikipedia, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts; U.S. Census Bureau.