The Hum is an unexplained low frequency rumbling sound heard by about 2% of the population from inside their homes during the late evening hours. I began noticing the Hum when I moved to Ipswich. Do you hear it?
Category: Commentary
Historical Perspectives on Section 3A
Local historian Gordon Harris Mariana Ovnic, the Chair of the Ipswich Historical Commission share their perspectives on this Town Warrant question.
Regarding the Removal of the Ipswich Mills Dam
By Ipswich resident Roger Wheeler On May 21, a yes vote to remove the head of tide Ipswich Mills Dam and free the river will provide Ipswich, Essex County, and New England with a rare fish-accessible river. This could be an extraordinarily uncommon river and watershed if all fish have accessibility at the head of… Continue reading Regarding the Removal of the Ipswich Mills Dam
Lucky Enough (Gavin Keenan)
My Ipswich connections
"I suspect that thousands of New Englanders have their roots based in Ipswich. Is it possible that I was drawn here by deeply ingrained ancestral memories?" By Thomas Palance
Play and Recreation in a Town of 6000, a Recreational Study of Ipswich, Massachusetts, November 1914
"This survey was made at the request of the Ipswich School Committee. Its purpose was to determine what the schools might do to meet the recreation needs of the community, with special reference to the school children."
Oh, Wintry Christmas of my Youth!
It's popular to wax nostalgic of a time and place where the winters were colder, the snows deeper, and the pace of life more manageable. For those of us lucky enough to grow up in Ipswich, these things were mostly true.
Abigail Adams to John Adams: “All Men Would be Tyrants if They Could.”
March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams to John Adams: "In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors."
Yankee Dictionary; a Compendium of Useful and entertaining Expressions Indigenous to New England
In 1963 Charles F. Haywood published the Yankee Dictionary, dedicated to his parents “both of whom loved Old New England, its life, its people, its history, its customs and its speech.”
Thoughts on an August Day
To borrow a hockey metaphor, if June and July designate the first and second periods of summer, then surely August tells us that we are now deep within the final period of this glorious season. The changes abound in subtle but perceptible ways.
“Preserve and Protect”
Alice Keenan: "Naturally when we moved to Ipswich my antiquarian cup ranneth over. This lovely old town, its long history, ancient houses and interesting people became almost an obsession"
The Postman Only Rang Once…….
What was forwarded to me was a shocking eye-opener of national proportions, I promised to keep it under my hat, so consider yourselves among the very privileged few to have this access. Please don't tell anyone...
How Will Sea Level Rise Affect Ipswich?
Sea levels rose about 8 inches globally and about 1 foot on the Eastern Seaboard in the past century. What will happen to Ipswich if catastrophic predictions for the 21st Century are realized?
The ABCs of Town Meeting
by Tom Murphy
The Karma of Modern Problems
by Gavin Keenan. This article was first posted in 2017, and is timely as ever.
Keeping My Bearings in Changing Times
What is an unreconstructed Townie to do when pummeled by these endless and unwanted shifts in the familiar that masquerade as progress?
Historic Ipswich 