History

The Salem Common Neighborhood Association is throwing it's Vintage Lawn Party on Salem Common. This free event has music, dance lessons, vendors, and lawn games! Prizes for Best Dressed Single, Best Dressed Couple, and Witch's Wicket Winner!

Step back in time with us for a day of blacksmithing at the Essex Company forge, the company that built the city of Lawrence! Blacksmith Richard Wright will be demonstrating the craft of traditional blacksmithing methods, forging both iron and mild steel to create items for practical use in our historic courtyard. The forge was first in use in the early 1880’s when the Essex Company complex at 6 Essex Street in Lawrence was constructed.

The tour will include facts about the property & how it was used from the 1920’s through 2012 when the Patton’s donated it to the Town of Hamilton. Marc Johnson, Friends of the Patton Homestead Board Member, and Town liaison, will lead the tour through the stables, past named family trees, and enjoy a walk down to the overlook of the Ipswich River, built with Essex County Greenbelt. The tour will end on the upper patio of the home in time for an author discussion, and a glimpse of the famed “When and If” artifacts hosted by the Wenham Museum at the Patton Family Archive.

Learn about the history of iron making at the Saugus Iron Works Museum. Exhibits include artifacts excavated during the archaeological dig performed on-site in the 1940s-1950s. See the original 17th century blast furnace waterwheel, an anvil base and hammer head from the original forge, and other tools and items from the 1600s. The museum also includes Native American artifacts that predate European settlement by thousands of years. This is a Trails & Sails event.