Beverly

History

Native Americans inhabited what would become northeastern Massachusetts for thousands of years before the European colonization of the Americas. At the time of European contact in the early 1600s, the area that would become Beverly was between an important Naumkeag settlement in present-day Salem and Agawam settlements on Cape Ann, with probable indigenous settlement sites at the mouth of the Bass River. During the early contact period, virgin soil epidemics ravaged native populations, reducing the indigenous population within the present boundaries of Beverly from an estimated 200 to less than 50 if there were any survivors. Surviving from the settlement's early history is the John Balch House, built, according to dendrochronological testing performed in 2006, about 1679. The colonists did not initially seek permission from indigenous inhabitants to settle in Beverly; however, when Charles II revoked colonial charters to establish the Dominion of New England in 1684, Beverly joined a number of Massachusetts municipalities in seeking out heirs to local sachems and paying them ex post facto in order to establish a right to the land. So it was that in 1686, the town selectmen agreed to pay six pounds, six shillings, and eight pence to three grandchildren of Chief Masconomet, last sachem of the Agawam. They did not pay this sum until 1700. and largest cotton mill of its time. The town is the home of one of the country's first Sunday schools, which was built in 1810. Beverly was incorporated as a city in 1894. In 1902, the United Shoe Machinery Corporation built a quarter-mile (400 m) stretch of factory buildings in Beverly. The stretch was an early landmark example of reinforced concrete construction, devised by concrete pioneer Ernest L. Ransome. In 1906 it went…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 33.19%, is water. Beverly is located on the North Shore, the name given to communities north of Boston along Massachusetts Bay. There are many smaller coves, as well as two islands, the Great and Little Misery Islands, which are part of the city. From Woodbury Point westward lies Beverly Harbor, which lies at the mouth of the Danvers River. The Bass River empties into the Danvers River from within the city. Several other small streams lie within the city as well. A large portion of Wenham Lake, as well as several other lakes and ponds lie within the city. The city has its own city forest and reservation land as well. Much of the western half of the city is relatively urbanized, while the eastern part of the city (roughly from Woodbury Point east) is more rural. Beverly is home to several parks, five beaches, the Beverly Golf & Tennis Club (est. 1910) and two yacht clubs, Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly Harbor and Bass Haven Yacht Club along the Bass River. Besides Massachusetts Bay to the south, Beverly is bordered by Manchester-by-the-Sea to the east, Wenham to the north, Danvers to the west and Salem to the south. Beverly and Salem are separated by the Danvers River and Beverly Harbor, with three bridges, the Veterans Memorial Bridge (former location of the historic Essex Bridge), the MBTA railroad bridge, and the Kernwood Bridge, connecting the two cities. Beverly's city center lies north of Salem's, and is west-southwest of Gloucester and northeast of Boston. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Beverly has an oceanic climate, abbreviated "Cfb" on climate maps, bordering on the humid continental climate type, abbreviated "Dfb".…

Race & ethnicity