e-Newsletter | August 5, 2022
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Yankee Homecoming Illustrated: The Early Years
by Bethany Groff Dorau
You may know that Yankee Homecoming has a long and storied past, but did you know that in its first year, 1958, Newburyport was the last of 30 New England communities to sign onto the idea? Today, 64 years later, Newburyport is the only community that continues this tradition.
Yankee Homecoming began as a passion project of New England artist Jack Frost, who saw the event as a marketing campaign. Subtitled "The National Pilgrimage Back East Where it All Began", Frost illustrated a "sketchbook" that could be sold to support the effort to encourage people to visit traditional New England towns that, like Newburyport, were down on their economic luck. He wrote a letter to the Daily News in March, 1958 which was published as an editorial, in which he suggested that News columnist Ned Brown could "encourage the town fathers to join hands with Adventureland" (a theme park on Scotland Road) to "create a weekend that would justify regional if not national attention". Frost expressed his hope that Adventureland could provide horses and a covered wagon for a Yankee Homecoming marketing event in Manhattan.
Frost also suggested roping Newburyport author J.P. Marquand into serving as chairman, an honor he declined in favor of George Cashman, and thought September would be an ideal month for the event, though the birthday of the Coast Guard, August 4, was selected instead. He emphasized that the key to the success of Yankee Homecoming would be "a local letter-writing campaign to relatives and friends elsewhere to return back home to New England where it all began". Of course, for many people, New England is not where their family's story began, but Frost and others like him encouraged a nostalgic look at a mythologized past that seemed to be slipping away.
The Museum of Old Newbury has a significant collection of ephemera, including the first Yankee Homecoming "sketchbook" that Frost sent to the Daily News, and the brochure from its inaugural year. Photographer and board member Bob Watts has photographed brochures and other ephemera from the first decade of Yankee Homecoming for us all to enjoy. We hope you enjoy this look back with us!
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1958 - Jack Frost pioneered the Yankee Homecoming movement across the United States. He sent this book to Newburyport as an invitation for them to join in this new tradition. |
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1958 - “Our Yankee Heritage” section of the Yankee Homecoming sketchbook. This section explains Frost's definition of an essential "Yankee heritage". |
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1958 - The first "Olde Newburyport Yankee Homecoming" pamphlet featured a robust schedule of events. |
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1964 - Cover of the souvenir program book, featuring an image of Lord Timothy Dexter (1747-1806). This year was the 200th anniversary of the separation of Newburyport from Newbury.
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1964 - The front page of the Yankee Homecoming program book featured a greeting from mayor George H. Lawler.
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1966 - Yankee Homecoming brochure, featuring examples of “Newburyport Courage and Enterprise”. |
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1966 - The cover of the Yankee Homecoming souvenir program book again featured an image of Lord Timothy Dexter (1747-1806) and his dog. |
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1966 - The schedule of events for Monday, August 1st included an art exhibit of the work of painter and sculptor Henry Hammond Ahl at the Cushing House, present home of the Museum of Old Newbury. |
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1966 - The inside back page of the program book featured a map of historic sites of Newburyport. |
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1966 - the schedule of events for Friday, August 5 shared a spread with a description of the historical pageant reenacting George Washington's visit. |
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1967 - The cover of the Yankee Homecoming program book featured an image of a US Revenue Cutter. |
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1967 - “Exhibitions Open throughout the Week” listed notable historic houses open to visitors. The Cushing House is featured in the bottom right corner.
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1967 - A program book page was dedicated to a montage of the “Economic Evolution of Newburyport”. |
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1968 - The cover of the program book featured a drawing of Market Square by Newburyport artist Tony Barbero.
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1968 - Newburyport put its friendliest foot forward in its program book. |
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1968 - The schedule of events for Sunday, July 28 included Old Fashioned Sunday on Bartlet Mall. |
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1968 - Thursday, August 1 included details of the “Historical Pageant” which would reenact Newburyport men returning from the Civil War.
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1969 - The Yankee Homecoming program book cover featured a drawing of the Cushing House High Street door with hints of the wisteria that still surrounds it today. |
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1969 - Yankee Homecoming was 11 years old, and local residents sang its praises, describing their favorite memories of the festival. |
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1963 - Yankee Magazine published a spread on Newburyport's Yankee Homecoming, featuring townsfolk dressed in old fashioned outfits. |
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1958-2022 and beyond. While the Yankee Homecoming events have “flickered out” across New England, Newburyport continues the tradition. |
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All items are from the Museum of Old Newbury archival collections. Photographs courtesy of Bob Watts. |
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Save the Date! Museum of Old Newbury Member Reception and Annual Meeting
Wednesday, September 14, 6:30 pm. All museum members welcome. (Not a member? Join here) . Business meeting followed by highlights of recent acquisitions of the museum, including the Newbury Common Pasture book, a locally made 1811 sampler, Moulton silver, and a 20th century painting. Register here.
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Join Ghlee Woodworth, noted author, historian, and 12th generation Newburyport native for one of her highly informative and entertaining walking tours. Proceeds from these tours benefit the museum, and her wonderfully illustrated books can be purchased exclusively in our online store.
Prior to 1842, Oak Hill Cemetery was known as Old Maid’s Hall and consisted of about fifty burial sites in a small area. In January of 1842, leading Newburyporters formed a board of trustees to oversee the design and management of a rural garden cemetery, which was to be one of the first in the United States. The new cemetery was consecrated in July 1842.
Join Ghlee for a stroll through Oak Hill, final resting place of shipwrecked sailors, sea captains, and merchants, architects and photographers, writers and poets, silversmiths and newspaper editors, and adventurers who travelled to the Klondike gold rush. $15 adults, $10 Museum of Old Newbury members. Tickets.
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Museum Musings - A Farewell
By Susan C.S. Edwards
Note: Susan Edwards retired as executive director of the Museum of Old Newbury last July, but has continued on during the past year as part-time development and collections manager. Though she will continue to volunteer, she is officially retired as of August 1!
When Bethany recently asked if I would like to contribute a farewell blog to our newsletter, I was, at first, reluctant and a bit at sea about what I might say that would be of interest, and then this weekend a chord of music brought to mind a wonderful memory about my early days as a museum director in the Berkshires, and so I've decided to share with you some of those moments that confirmed my delight in choosing the path of a museum curator and director.
Although a great deal has changed in the museum profession, what remains constant for me is the privilege of serving as a steward for some of the most important landmarks in New England that helped to shape American history. They are homes of missionaries, enslaved Americans, diplomats, authors, artists, inventors, patriots, shipmasters, and farmers.
In the late 1970s, I joined the Berkshire County Historical Society, first as curator and then as executive director at Arrowhead, Herman Melville's farm in Pittsfield. It was heady stuff for an English major to be living in a sprawling apartment at the back of the house and sharing the view of Mount Greylock, Melville's inspiration for Moby-Dick.
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View of Mount Greylock from Arrowhead by Jesse Talbot, c. 1870. Courtesy Berkshirehistory.org
One of my first responsibilities as the new director was to welcome Paul Binder's Big Apple Circus to the back forty. Of course, there were Melville-related events, the trek every August to the top of Monument Mountain in the footsteps of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Melville, and the annual August 1st lamb roast in celebration of Melville's birthday. One of the Berkshire's finest was spit-roasted for a crowd of 100 patrons in what had been the Melville perennial gardens.
But it was the Big Apple Circus that provided the funds to sustain the property year-round. The neighbors needed to be placated. A call early one morning after the circus's arrival was from a family newly moved into their home, wanting to know why there was a tiger in the backyard and a clown wandering in their garden. But that first year under the Big Top with composer John Williams conducting the orchestra with his overture to Star Wars, all of our hearts swelled a little. After all, it was to benefit history.
As Director of Historic Resources for The Trustees of Reservations, I cared for nine historic house museums, many National Historic Landmarks. It was a thrilling moment to be at the headquarters of the Department of the Interior in Washington when my landmark nominations were approved, and Naumkeag in Stockbridge and Castle Hill in Ipswich joined the roster of these national treasures.
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There were other trips to Washington as well. I served as a grant panelist for the Institute of Museum and Library Services for almost ten years. On one occasion this overlapped with a breakfast reception at the White House with former First Lady Barbara Bush to recognize Maine and New Hampshire museum directors who had received a federal grant award.
In 2001, shortly after 9/11, my historic resources team and The Trustees' president attended the annual conference of the National Trust for Historic Preservation in Providence, Rhode Island to receive a National Preservation Award for thirteen preservation projects. As we stood on the stage with the other award recipients, the audience began singing "God Bless America", in which we all joined. There wasn't a dry eye in the house, and we were all justly proud of our country's heritage.
At the Old Manse in Concord, hard by the Old North Bridge, one of the most moving moments in my career was at the close of one Patriot's Day. After the morning re-enactments, the parade, and other festivities, a group of us filled 600 white bags with sand and a candle for each, and we placed the luminaria on each side of the bridge to represent the British Regulars and the Concord militia. As dusk fell in a glade by the river, we read accounts of April 19th, listened to poetry, and closed with the singing of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn. As the crowd dispersed, there were a handful of candles that had blown out—representing exactly the lives lost on each side.
As I write this, the memories tumble over me, strategic plans implemented, facilities created, awards received, collections conserved, exhibitions created, programs developed, and budgets balanced—all in a day's work.
However, ultimately, it's about these special places, their objects, their stories, and the people who created them. I love them all and consider them my friends. Old Newbury ranks high in my memories. But it's not just about those who have gone before; it's the people today: mentors, boards of directors, members, volunteers, donors, and staff who support these icons of our past. To all of you, I owe a huge debt of thanks for the opportunity to have played a part in our shared history.
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Something is Always Cooking at the Museum |
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Pesto Pasta Parm Salad
A delicious cold salad for a hot summer gathering, this pesto-packed wonder is also delicious, sans mayo, in fall and winter, and packs a punch of leafy greens. It is the most-requested summer supper by the pickiest eater in the family of executive director Bethany Groff Dorau - her son Jed would eat it every day if he could. It makes enough for a dozen people as a side dish or 6 as a main course. This is a very basic pesto recipe – feel free to change it up!
Pesto:
2 cups basil leaves (no stems)
2 tablespoons walnuts or pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
Salad:
1 pound rotini or other textured pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups baby spinach and/or spring mix
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup good mayonnaise
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1 cup frozen or fresh sweet corn
1 cucumber, chopped
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Make the pesto by combining all ingredients except the olive oil and parmesan cheese in a food processor. Blend while drizzling the olive oil into the mixture and add the cheese at the end.
Cook the pasta al dente as directed and toss with olive oil. Cool to room temperature. If using frozen peas and corn, toss them frozen with the hot pasta to speed cooling. In a food processor, combine pesto, lemon juice, and mayonnaise and add spinach or spring mix until thoroughly blended. Add the mixture to the cooled pasta and toss while adding cucumber, peas, corn, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese (some omit the parmesan in the salad and add feta and tomatoes, but to each their own). Enjoy!
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Click on image above to play the puzzle |
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1966 - Lord Timothy Dexter and his dog marched in the Yankee Homecoming Parade. |
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Museum e-Newsletter made possible through the
generosity of our sponsors:
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Museum of Old Newbury
98 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-462-2681
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