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Tag: hay

Adrift on a Haystack, December 1786

December 19, 2023December 31, 2024 Gordon Harris2 Comments
Adrift on a Haystack legend Rowley

In a northeasterly storm in December, 1786 Samuel Pulsifer and Samuel Elwell of Rowley were digging clams on Plum Island, got caught in the storm, and took refuge in a stack of salt hay for the night. In the morning they found they had been set afloat.

Posted in Legends, Stories, Storms, winterTagged 1786, Clams, December, hay, Plum Island, Rowley, storm

Gathering Salt Marsh Hay

February 12, 2021August 4, 2025 Gordon Harris2 Comments

Salt marsh hay is still gathered on the North Shore today. The grass was stacked on staddles to raise it above the high tides, and was hauled away on sleds over the frozen marsh in mid-winter.

Posted in Nature, Places, Stories, VideoTagged hay, Newbury, Plum Island, salt hay, salt marsh
Ipswich MA historic photos by William Varrel
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Early Inhabitants of Ipswich, Massachusetts by Abraham Hammatt
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Ipswich Massachusetts Revisited by William Varrel
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© Gordon Harris 2026

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