What to See in Newburyport - Top Sights and Attractions

Mansion. The Cushing House Museum and Garden, also known as the Caleb Cushing House, is a Federal style mansion with a fine garden located at 98 High Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts, United States. It was a home of diplomat Caleb Cushing and is a National Historic Landmark.

The house is a center entrance four-story brick mansion in the Federal style, with entrances at both the front and sides, and two chimneys on each side. In shape it is a flattened cube, with five windows arranged symmetrically across both front and sides. Its main entry is crowned with a modest fanlight, echoed by a fan-shaped wooden motif atop the window above it. On the grounds, visitors will find a nineteenth-century garden, fruit trees, a privy, cobbled yard and carriage house.

Within the house are fine collections of silver, furniture, portraits, clocks, needlework, antique fans, hatboxes, nineteenth century toys, and more from New England, Asia, and Europe. The China Trade Room displays early China Trade decorative arts including four Chinese coastal Hong paintings. An extensive clock collection includes examples made by local master clockmakers David Wood and Daniel Balch. In the canopy bedroom stands a carved seventeenth-century Dutch cradle and a three-sided crib. Many oil portrait paintings hang in the house, including a Cecilia Beaux portrait of Margaret Cushing and 1801 paintings by John Brewster, Jr. of Newburyport's Prince family. The museum also maintains a collection of area maps, photographs, and genealogical references.

It is now the home of the Historical Society of Old Newbury and guided tours are offered between Memorial Day and Columbus Day.

The house was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and included in the Newburyport Historic District in 1984. The house is deemed nationally significant for its association with Cushing, a 19th-century diplomat whose defining achievement was the Treaty of Wanghia, negotiated in 1844 with the Qing dynasty of China. This treaty was the first in which the United States secured equivalent rights to those of traditional colonial powers (in this case, the United Kingdom).^[1]

Church building in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The First Religious Society Church and Parish Hall is a historic church building at 26 Pleasant Street in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Originally a Reformed congregation, the congregation is currently affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist denomination. The current Minister is Reverend Rebecca M. Bryan. The church's steeple is currently the tallest point in downtown Newburyport, Massachusetts.

The church building was constructed in 1801 by the First Religious Society, which was founded in 1725. The designer is unknown, but the names of Samuel McIntire of Salem and Timothy Palmer of Newburyport have been suggested. Like so many churches in the United States, the design of the church was based on the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in London.

A stylistically complementary parish hall was added to the east side of the church in 1873.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and included in the Newburyport Historic District in 1984.^[2]

First Presbyterian Church, also known as Old South, is a Presbyterian congregation in Newburyport, Massachusetts that is part of the Presbyterian Church. The church building is located at 29 Federal Street in Newburyport. The current pastor is the Reverend Sara Singleton.

The congregation began meeting in April 1746, following the ministry of the Methodist evangelist and preacher George Whitefield in the region. In 1756, over 100 men constructed the current meetinghouse on Federal Street in 3 days. Whitefield died in the church parsonage in 1770 while visiting Jonathan Parsons, and his remains were buried under the pulpit of the meeting house at his request.

The bell in the clock tower was cast by Paul Revere.

Among the notable people to attend church were "Lord" Timothy Dexter, Capt. Abraham Wheelwright, Isaac Wheelwright, Caleb Cushing, Adolphus Greely, and Samuel Tufts.^[3]

The Dalton House is a historic colonial house in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame house was built c. 1746, and is one of the best preserved Georgian houses in the city. It was built by Michael Dalton, a mariner and merchant who settled in Newburyport in 1735. Dalton's son Tristram was a major local figure during the American Revolutionary War, and was one of the first United States senators from Massachusetts. As such, the house was visited by a number of luminaries of early American history, including George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette. The house was acquired by the Dalton Club, a men's social club, in 1898.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and included in the Newburyport Historic District in 1984.^[9]