On the Mighty Merrimack

Newburyport is a riverside city in Essex County, Massachusetts, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Boston. Although it includes part of Plum Island on the Atlantic, the town's early life centered on the Merrimack River, once a thriving hub of fishing, shipbuilding and maritime trade. The Maritime District reflects the limits of Newburyport during its seafaring peak around 1851. Near the river, the Market Square Historic District — rebuilt after the great fire of 1811 — forms a distinguished concentration of Federal-style brick buildings. The city also holds deep cultural and political history: the influential English preacher George Whitefield, whose sermons helped spark the First Great Awakening in America, is buried at Old South Church; American merchant Nathaniel Tracy, who outfitted privateers and lost much of his fortune attacking British shipping, left a legacy preserved in his former house, now part of the Newburyport Public Library. H P Lovecraft's Newburyport holds a peculiar distinction: it remains the most convenient real-world gateway to the shadowed, streets of Innsmouth — close enough that a traveler might feel the sea wind shift, or catch a glimpse of something slipping back beneath the tide. - AsNotedIn