Mixing Business with Pleasure - Side Trips to Marblehead & Swampscott

Two side trips, one to Marblehead and one to Swampscott, were facilitated by Diana having brought the car up to Salem.  The first was to Marblehead on Tuesday afternoon.

The Taurus parked in the historic district

Marblehead Historic District

Marblehead Old Meeting House in the historic district

Marblehead Massachusetts, settled in 1626, is an upscale residential community of 20,000 just north of Boston. According to Wikipedia, Marblehead has its roots in fishing, yachting and is considered the birthplace of the American Navy.

Marblehead Harbor viewed from Marblehead Light looking southwest toward Boston

The first vessel commission for the newly formed American Navy, the Hannah, was crewed by men from Marblehead.  Marblehead men ferried George Washington across the Delaware River for his attack on Trenton and the town lost a good portion of the men who fought in the Revolutionary War.  In the first census of 1790 it was the tenth largest inhabited location in the US.

Fishing, its primary industry, declined after a storm of hurricane force off the Grand Backs destroyed 11 of 98 fishing vessels and killed 65 residents.  In the 19th century the city enjoyed a short term boom in the shoe making industry.  During that time the exceptional harbor attracted yachting and yacht clubs and that culture still exists today.

According to www.city-data.com, the median income is $106,000 as compared to the state of Massachusetts at $65,000.  The median house/condo value is $553,321 as compared to the Mass average of $324,000.  This is a wealth community with very impressive yacht clubs.

We pose for a photo at Marblehead Light

 

The very impressive Corinthian Yacht Club (viewed from Marblehead Light)

Stone walls with pointed stones were ubiquitous

Most properties along the water were hidden behind stone walls and foliage

A very nice house viewed from the Corinthian Yacht Club

More nice homes along the shore

The Corinthian Yacht Club founded in 1885

The Boston Yacht Club

Old houses close to the water

Both the Corinthian and Boston yacht clubs were very large (as compared to others we've seen in our journey) and do no not have slips.  Members reach their moored boats via launches run by the clubs.  We sat at the Boston Yacht Club and watched the two 30 foot launches that were running that day.  The launch operators displayed amazing boat handling skills as the whisked members to and from their boats.

There are over 3,000 moored boats in Marblehead Harbor with about 1,600 people on the waiting list for a mooring.  Their are very few slips.  I can recall my sister waiting years for a 30 foot mooring in Cohasset Harbor.  Slips and moorings seem to be at a premium in the Boston area.

Our next visit was to Swampscott, about four miles south of Salem.  This is also an upscale residential community although not as impressive as Marblehead (median income at $94,633, median home value at $404,000). The Mary Baker Eddy Historic House is one of its two attractions and we decided to pay it a visit.

Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer and founder of Christian Science lived in this home from 1865 to 1866. During this short stay she had the epiphany that led her to write her book, Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures, which led to the founding of Christian Science Publishing Society in 1898.  The Society still publishes the Christian Science Monitor.

Note: My Uncle, Irving Thurman, worked for the Christian Science Monitor in the 50s as a typesetter.  I remember to this day the tour of the the printing facility in Boston and in particular the Linotype he produced with my name set in type.

While her stay at this property was very short, essentially she rented three rooms, it was here that she had the experience that resulted in the book and ultimately the creation of a new religion.  The story as told by our docent, Mary, was that Mary Patterson (her name at the time) slipped on ice in Lynn Massachusetts injuring her spine.  Her physician, Alvin M. Cushing, is said to have declared that she was terminal and that there was no hope.  She subsequently made a miraculous recovery after reading a passage in the bible.  I'll let Mary tell her own story:

"On the third day thereafter, I called for my Bible, and opened it at Matthew, 9:2 [And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.(King James Bible) ]. As I read, the healing Truth dawned upon my sense; and the result was that I arose, dressed myself, and ever after was in better health than I had before enjoyed. That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence"

Note: Her physician, Alvin M. Cushing ultimately testified under oath in regard to a lawsuit she filed against the City of Lynn that the he "did not at any time declare or believe, that there was no hope for Mrs. Patterson's recovery, or that she was in critical condition."

In any case, (according to our docent) she spend the next seven years devoted to biblical study and what she considered the discovery of Christian Science.  Again in her own words: "It is plain that God does not employ drugs or hygiene, nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and employed them in his healing."

According to Wikipedia there are approximately 1,000 congregations of which 900 are in the US; Membership is said to be approximately 85,000 worldwide.

Mary Baker Eddy Historic House viewed from Paradise Street

A photo of the house from the late 1th century

Mary, Our docent poses in the dry kitchen used by Mary Baker Eddy
Water was hauled up one story from the well

Bedroom of Mary Baker Eddy
Notice the chamber pot at the foot of the bed

Mary Baker Eddy Historical House viewed from its side

After our visit to Swampscott we returned to the boat and found that the maintenance project was close to completion.  As a result, I was able to depart Pickering Wharf at 3:50 PM.  My solo cruise back to Hingham was almost a carbon copy of the trip up to Salem they day before.  Calm winds with flat seas. The only difference was perfect visibility.

I arrived in Hingham at 6:30 PM and was met by Diana who had just arrived.  She had departed Salem 10 minutes before I did.  The 28.3 mile trip had taken her almost three hours thanks to Boston Traffic.  My 22 nautical mile cruise (25 statute miles) had taken only 2 hours and 50 minutes (at an average speed of 8.0 knots).

Docking single handed was easy.  I pulled into the slip and held the boat in place while Diana boarded via the swim platform.  She then grabbed the lines from the dock caddies and placed them on the cleats.

Bottom line: A fun trip that allowed us to accomplish an important maintenance project without incurring perhaps as much as $800 of travel expense.

Written by Les.