When I was in the Newburyport Archival Center this week, at the Newburyport Public Library, low and behold my favorite photograph of the men shucking clams in front of the clam shacks was there. Eureka.

Clam Shack Workers
Courtesy of the Newburyport Archival Center
at the Newburyport Public Library

“Images capturing the men at work, with the small shacks at their backs, were some of the most popular and recognized photographs of Newburyport… “It was like the motif No. 1″..” (Newburyport Daily News, August 23, 2007, by Steven Tait)

And in thinking about the “flavor” or “color,” the “spirit and essence,” the “diversity” of Newburyport, MA on the Newburyport Blog for the last 10 days or so, the image of the men clamming at Joppa kept coming to mind.

…”the clam shacks that once lined the north side of Water Street helped to define an era in Newburyport and distinguished a neighborhood that instilled a sense of pride in its residents that lasts to this day.” (Newburyport Daily News, August 23, 2007, by Steven Tait)

The clam shacks, one is still left, were located where Union and Water Street meet in Newburyport’s South End.

And In the Newburyport Archival Center I also found this photograph of the “clam houses.”

Clam Houses
Courtesy of the Newburyport Archival Center
at the Newburyport Public Library

Detail, Clam Houses
Courtesy of the Newburyport Archival Center
at the Newburyport Public Library

Mary Baker Eaton
Newburyport

This story is also now on the new website that coordinates with the interactive history map, HistoryNewburyport.com. 

History ~ Newburyport, a new Website about Newburyport’s stories

The story on the Clam Shacks can be found here at the new website History ~ Newburyport HistoryNewburyport.com along with a fun jigsaw puzzle.

Story on the Clam Shacks on the new website, History ~ Newburyport