Ever since I started the interactive history map I’ve been thinking of doing this – creating a website that coordinates with the map. The pandemic has provided an opportunity to do that.
As I’ve been creating the interactive map, one story appears over and over again – Newburyport has been hugely successful and then faced crisis, often devastation and has always shown incredible resiliency, fortitude and the result has always been renewal. And as we are in the midst of this global pandemic, I thought it might be good story to emphasize.
I hired a professional web designer and graphic designer to do the website, GridPlay Designs. I think they did a gorgeous job. We are launching the site, HistoryNewburyport.com, Newburyport – Keeping the Story Alive with nine stories, but that’s just the start, there are so many stories to tell, and if you look at the interactive map, you will see, there are lots and lots and lots of stories.
Each page has a story, some are brief, some are longer. There are wonderful old photographs and maps, just like the interactive story map, and often a page also has a jigsaw puzzle about the story.
The website would not be possible without the incredibly generous help and use of the collection of both of the Museum of Old Newbury and the Newburyport Public Library Archival Center.