Marblehead Christmas Walk

Festival Location: Marblehead, MA, USA

Festival State: Massachusetts Festivals

Festival Type(s): Christmas Celebrations , Religious Events , Street Parades

Festival Photos of Marblehead Christmas Walk: gallery 1

Get in the Spirit at the Marblehead Christmas Walk

by © Bob Brooke 2008

What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than to sing carols by candlelight in the brisk air in a quaint New England seacoast town as the lights of the town tree blink on for the first time. So begins the annual Marblehead Christmas Walk in Marblehead, Massachusetts, part party, part historical tour, and part shopping festival. Inaugurated 25 years ago when four shops decided to have open house with refreshments as a way of saying happy holidays, it's grown into a festival attracting up to 30,000 people and featuring 50 different events throughout the first weekend of December.

Located 17 miles north of Boston along the ragged edge of Ipswich Bay, Marblehead is known as the "Yachting Capital of America." Yachtsmen revere its harbor so much that three major yacht clubs-the Corinthian, the Pleon, and the Boston, which moved to Marblehead in 1902 to join with the Burgess Yacht Club-have taken up residence here. All have taken part in wining the treasured America's Cup.

Here, too, old families, old money and the purest of Massachusetts accent prevail. The Rev. Mr. Higginson, writing of the place upon its founding by fishermen in 1629, speaks of the rocky headlands which line the shore as "Marble stone, that we have great rocks of it, and a harbor hard by. Our plantation is from thence called Marble-Harbor." Even in 1640, it had often been described as a place barren of trees and abounding in nothing but rocks and unproductive land.

Historians believe the first settlers came from the islands of Guernsey and Jersey in the English Channel, settling near the headland now known as Peach's Point. All were fishermen, rough and illiterate, accustomed to a life of toil and hardship.

On Washington Street, known as Ye Queen's Highway in early times, near the head of State Street, the old Town House, built in 1728, still stands. What Faneuil Hall is to Boston, this old building is to Marblehead. Within its walls, local orators discussed questions of importance to the town, the State, or the nation, for more than a century. It's from here that I began my Marblehead Christmas Walk.

From the steps of the Town House, I strolled along Washington Street, gazing at gayly decorated window displays of shops along the way and enjoying festive street performers. As a writer, I'm naturally drawn to book stores like Artists and Authors, with 35,000 used and rare books, plus galleries of art prints, located on Washington Street, just up from the Town House. And I couldn't resist the mango-grapefruit scented soap and aroma candles in The Bus Stop, one of the founding Christmas Walk stores.

As the commercial trade of Marblehead increased, fishing companies built several wharves and purchased land in the vicinity to expand their businesses and to build houses. Large warehouses, some of which still stand, recall the days when merchants filled them with foreign merchandise and cured fish for export to Europe and the West Indies. One of these is State Street Wharf, where Santa and Mrs. Claus were to arrive in a red lobster boat at 10 A.M. After watching the delight on children's faces as Santa greeted them, then waving to him and Mrs. Claus as a team of horses whisked them away in a carriage, I headed over several blocks to Hooper Street to visit the King Hooper Mansion, built in 1742 by Robert "King" Hooper, Esquire.

The Mansion's open house, sponsored by the Marblehead Arts Association, was in full swing when I arrived. Soon I was being guided through its beautifully decorated rooms, including the wine cellar and slave quarters, ending up in the ballroom, filled with paintings, prints, cards and other works by local artists. I even took time to sip steaming tea and nibble Christmas cookies.

"King" Hooper, as he was known, was not only one of the town's wealthiest men but one of the wealthiest in New England prior to the Revolution. His ships sailed to every port of Europe and the West Indies, and his name and fame as a merchant extended to all the mercantile centers of the world. He lived in princely style, frequently entertaining the highest dignitaries of the land. His uniform courtesy and kindness, and his benevolence to the poor, endeared him to all, especially the people of Marblehead. Fishermen gave him the nickname "King," not because of his wealth, but because of his honor and integrity in dealing with them. Contrary to the practice of some of the merchants, King Hooper was never known to cheat them.

From the King Hooper Mansion, I headed back up Washington Street to Abbot Hall to browse through the Artisan's Holiday Marketplace. Designed by Lord & Fuller in the late 1870s and built on Training Field Hill on land donated to the town by Benjamin Abbot, a cooper, the structure was the tallest in Marblehead, 164 feet to the top of the weathervane. During the 1930's, the interior walls local-history murals adorned its interior walls. The red-brick building is best known as the home of "The Spirit Of '76," an oil painting done by Archibald M. Willard for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.

This 8 x 10-foot painting depicts American Revolutionary fervor as an intergenerational trio marches through a battlefield with fife and drums, with a flag waving in the background. Originally entitled Yankee Doodle, Willard used his father as the central figure of the older man leading the way, the fifer was Willard's friend Hugh Mosher, and the drummer boy was the son of General John H. Devereux of Cleveland, Ohio. Four years later, General Devereux donated the painting to Marblehead to be hung in Abbott Hall.

By the time I left Abbott Hall, the annual Christmas Walk Parade was already underway. Tradition plays a big part in this parade, as groups from all over the area march to bring in the holiday season.

Since the air was a bit nippy, I decided to stop for a bowl of delicious, creamy clam chowder with grilled corn-the best I've ever had-at The Landing down on Front Street. From my table I looked out at the yachts bobbing in Marblehead Harbor. Catering to the boat crowd, it's best known for its mouth-watering chowder and delicious seafood.

Warmed and refreshed, I walked over to the Lee Mansion, situated on the northern side of Washington Street, and now owned by the Marblehead Historical Society. Built in 1768 by Col. Jeremiah Lee, a wealthy maritime merchant, at a cost of over 10,000 pounds, it shows the prosperity that Marblehead enjoyed during the years preceding the Revolution. It's said to have been one of the most elegant and expensively finished houses in the British Colonies. I marveled at its Georgian architecture and fine hall and stairway, decorated with English wallpaper. Lee entertained Gen. George Washington when he visited the town, and received Gen. Lafayette twice. Here, too, President Monroe received the hospitality of Marblehead's citizens, and Andrew Jackson shook the hands of sturdy fishermen, who worshiped the old hero. While at the Mansion, I visited the gallery of Marblehead artist J.O.J. Frost, then took a free horse-drawn carriage ride through Marblehead's historic district.

I spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the Red Bow Fair at the United Universalist Church and the Christmas Fair at St. Michael's Church, two of four craft fairs going on simultaneously during the Christmas Walk.

That evening I enjoyed a Christmas choral concert at Old North Church at the northern end of Washington Street. Featured was J.S. Bach's "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" from Cantata #191, "In Terra Pax" by Gerald Finzi, and John Rutter's "When Iciles Hang."

It has been said that the history of a town cannot be better told than in the story of its historic buildings and landmarks. On Sunday afternoon, I found Marblehead rich in these. Some of the houses erected within 50 years after its settlement are still standing, and there are many that have withstood the storms of 150 years. Many of these great old houses stand along Washington Street, extending nearly its entire length, and nine of them, gayly decorated for the holidays, were part of the Holiday-by-the-Sea House Tour.

Marblehead boasts many points of interest and through its annual Christmas Walk I was able to visit many of them.

Check out Bob Brooke's wonderful sites featuring more of his writing and phootography at http://www.bobbrooke.com, http://www.therealmexico.com and http://www.allscandinavia.com. All three are updated regularly.

by Bob Brooke

Festival Photos of Marblehead Christmas Walk: gallery 1