Congress Street

In July, when we were in Newburyport, we looked at two houses. We wanted to be able to get a feel for the size of home we were looking for, what we could afford to buy, the area of town we would like to be in and just begin the very early process of looking.

The second house we looked at was on Congress Street. It was built in 1750. It was located in a beautiful neighborhood, within walking distance to downtown. We really liked the layout and potential - but had ABSOLUTELY NO thought of purchasing. We had a year before we planned on moving and it just wasn't even on our radar! We came home and continued to see homes pop up on our saved searches. Weeks passed, then months. The Congress Street house was still for sale (a very unusual thing for Newburyport) One night, Bryan and I were thinking and talking and found out that we had both been thinking about Congress the entire time...but, we each thought it crazy to buy something that early. We both felt like it was ours and had since the very first time we saw it. We looked at each other and said, "Are we doing this?"...we closed on Congress Street at the beginning of October!

Let the renovations begin....

Newburyport

Newburyport, Massachusetts is a small town of 19,000 that is situated on the Merrimack River and is 35 miles northeast of Boston. Plum Island, a barrier island with lovely beaches, is just a few minutes away. It is a historic seaport, rich in early American history.

A few historical highlights...

The first of many clipper ships were built there and Newburyport is recognized as the birthplace of the US Coast Guard

First "Tea Party" rebellion to oppose the British Tea Tax.

Home to the first State Mint and Treasury Building

Newburyport Superior Courthouse, the oldest continuously active courthouse in Massachusetts.

The Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank on State Street was founded in 1854 and is one of the oldest banks in the United States still in operation.

Had stops on the Underground Railroad.

In the 1950's and 60's, Newburyport's center had fallen into disrepair with many buildings having been boarded up - some of the reasons included the development of strip malls, increased use of automobiles and the construction of major highways that allowed people to get to larger cities. Consequently, by 1970, Newburyport's historic downtown section was scheduled to be razed and reconstructed with federal money. The model for Urban Renewal, was to tear down almost the entire historic downtown and replace it with a strip mall and parking lots.

A group formed under the Historical Society of Old Newbury brought forward the idea of restoring the buildings in the downtown historic district instead of tearing everything down. They approached the city’s elected officials about not losing the heritage of Newburyport’s historic downtown. As a result, the city changed its mind at the last moment and signed a federal grant that allowed it to keep its historic architecture and restore what had been lost. The Historical Society of Old Newbury’s committee was successful in saving the historic integrity of the downtown area. Since that time Newburyport has grown and flourished, its downtown is a national example of how historic preservation can save a community from neglect. Preservationists often cite Newburyport as an example of how to maintain a city's architecture and heritage while keeping it functional and liveable.

The neighborhoods are filled with colonial, federalist, georgian and victorian style houses.

On the Hunt...

July 2025 - We had 11 days to see 60 towns. We needed to see roughly six towns per day...a tall order. We didn't make any lodging reservations ahead of time, we would just find a place at the end of each day. We landed at JFK airport, hopped into our rental car and with a prayer said...began the journey.

The first town we rolled into was New Milford, Connecticut. We were speechless. It was the quintessential New England small town...a lovely Main Street with a town green in the center. Think Gilmore Girls...it even had the gazebo! They are one of four towns that have a Gilmore Girls Festival! We got out and walked around in awe. It quickly became our #1 choice. This is what we would measure all the other towns against.

A church along the green in the middle of New Milford.

Every day, we began with a prayer...help us to know, help us to feel. We made notes on each town on the spreadsheet, crossed out the definite "no's", got out and walked around others, ranked the remaining towns and in only six days we had made it to the 53rd town...Newburyport...the very last town to see in Massachusetts.

We drove into Newburyport in the early evening. Bryan's initial thought to himself was..."This could be it" We decided to stop and walk the town. It was if we had stepped back in time...it was absolutely beautiful. As we walked, I stopped and closed my eyes and took a deep breath. The only way I can describe it was as if dew was distilling from my head to my toes...complete peace. This is where we needed to be. We looked at each other - Bryan smiled at me and I said, "I love it."

But, we had seven more towns in New Hampshire to drive through the next day and wanted to do our due diligence. So, we left Newburyport the next morning and drove through New Hampshire...we ended up back in Newburyport that night and stayed for the whole next day.

That morning, we walked into a realty office and the office manager was there. We had a lovely 30 minute conversation with her and she paired us with the perfect real estate agent. We looked at two houses that day. We knew we had lots of time, but wanted to get a feel for what we could afford and the size that we wanted.

As we made our way back to JFK, we stopped in each of the four towns that had been our top favorites. It was interesting...those towns that had seemed so amazing just days before...didn't feel quite the same. We loved them and knew that we could be very happy in any of them, but the Lord had shown us where we needed to be.

Newburyport, Massachusetts.