The history of Lynn, including Nahant

Front matter

111 'rUdilWlti T)eXt('L'. Ini- a SlUl (if C'lOtlK^.S ,

I b .T U I .itlioqrupned JiJr the. History of Lyn

THE

Chapter I

Situation of Lynn — Its picturesque beauty — Indian name of the town, Saugiis

— Abousett River — Nahant — Swallows' Cave — Pea Island — Shag Rocks — Irene's Grotto — Pulpit Rock — Natural Bridge— Cauldron Cliff— Castle Rock

— Spouting Horn— Iron Mine — John's Peril — Egg Rock— Little Nahant — Beaches — Swampscot — High Rock — Lover's Leap — Lakes of Lynn — Springs — Geology — Botany — Phenomena — Storm at Nahant.

One showed an iron coast and angry waves, You seemed to hear them climb and fall, And roar rock-thwarted under bellowing caves.

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YNN is pleasantly situated on the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay, between the cities of Salem and Boston. It extends six miles on the sea shore, and five miles into the woods. The southern portion of the town is a long narrow prairie, defended on the north by a chain of high rocky hills, beyond which is an extensive range of woodland. It is surrounded by abundance of water; having the river of Saugus on the west, the Harbor on the south, the Ocean on the southeast, and the Lakes of Lynn on the north. From the centre of the southern side, a beach of sand extends two miles into the ocean ; at the end of which are the two peninsular islands called ' the Nahants.' This beach forms one side of the harbor, and protects it from the ocean. When great storms beat on this beach, and on the cliffs of Nahant, they make a roaring which may be heard six miles. Lynn is emphatically a region of romance and beauty. Her wide-spread and variegated shores — her extended beaches — her beautiful Nahant — her craggy cliffs, that overhang the sea — her hills of porphyry — her woodland lakes — her wild secluded vales — her lovely groves, where sings the whip-poorwill, furnish fruitful themes for inexhaustible description ; while the legends of her forest kings and their vast tribes — ' their feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves' will be rich themes of song a hundred ages hence.

Lynn, as it now exists, is much smaller than it was before the towns of Saugus, Lynnfield, Reading, and South Reading were separated from it. It is now bounded on the west by Saugus. on the northwest by Lynnfield, on the north and east by Danvers and Salem. The old County road passes through the northern part, the Salem Turnpike through the centre, and the Rail-road from Portland to Boston through the southern part. The distance to Salem, on the northeast, is five miles ; to Boston, on the southwest, nine miles. It contains 9360 acres, or fourteen square miles ; and the boundary line measures thirty-four miles. It presents a bold and rocky shore, consisting of craggy and precipitous cliffs, interspersed with numerous bays, coves and beaches, which furnish a pleasing and picturesque variety.

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Above these rise little verdant mounds and lofty barren rocks, and high hills clothed with woods of evergreen. The first settlers found the town, including Nahant, chiefly covered by forests of aged trees, which had never been disturbed but by the storms of centuries. On the tops of ancient oaks, which grew upon the cliffs, the eagles built their nests ; the wild-cat and the bear rested in their branches ; and the fox and the wolf prowled beneath. The squirrel made his home undisturbed in the nut-tree ; the wood pigeon murmured his sweet notes in the glen ; and the beaver constructed his dam across the wild brook. The ponds and streams were filled with fish; and the harbor was covered by sea-fowl, which laid their eggs on the cliffs and on the sands of the beach.

The Indian name of the town was Saugus ; and by that name it was known for eight years. The root of this word signifies great or extended; and it was probably applied to the Long Beach. Wood, in his early Map of New England, places the word ' Sagus ' on Sagamore Hill. The river on the west was called by the Indians ' Ahoxisctt' — the word Saugus being applied to it by the white men. It was called the river at Saugus, and the river of Saugus, and finally the Saugus river; the original name ' Abousett' being lost, until I had the pleasure of restoring it. This river has its source in Reading pond, about ten miles from the sea. For the first half of its course, it is only sufficient for a mill stream, but becomes broader towards its mouth, where it is more than a quarter of a mile wide. It is crossed by four bridges — that at the ironworks being about 60 feet in length, that on the old Boston road about two hundred feet, on the Turnpike 4S0 feet, and on the Rail-road 1550 feet in length. It is very crooked in its course, flowing three miles in the distance of one. In several places, after making a circuitous route of half a mile, it returns to within a few rods of the place whence it deviated. The harbor, into which it flows, is spacious, but shoal, and does not easily admit large vessels.

Nahant is the original name of the peninsula on the south of Lynn, which has become so celebrated. This is probably the Indian term Nahanteu, a dual word, signifying two united, or twins. This name is peculiarly appropriate, and is an instance of the felicity of Indian appellations ; for the two islands, like the Siamese twins, are not only connected together by the short beach, but both are chained to the main land by the long beach. When the early settlers spoke of the larger promontory, they called it Nahant; but more commonly after the manner of the Indians, who talked of both together, as twin brothers, they called them ' the Nahants.'

Great Nahant is two miles in length, and about half a mile in breadth, containing five hundred acres ; and is six and one quarter miles in circumference. It is surrounded by steep, craggy cliffs, rising from twenty to sixty feet above the tide, with a considerable depth of water below. The rocks present a great variety of color — white, green, blue, red, purple, and gray — and in some places very black and shining, having the appearance of iron. The cliffs are pierced by many deep fissures, caverns, and grottoes; and between these are numerous coves, and beeches of fine, shining, silvery sand, crowned by ridges of va-

HISTORY OF I, YNN, rious colored pebbles, interspersed with sea-shells. Above the diffs, the promontory swells into mounds from sixty to ninety feet in height. There are many remarkable cliffs and caves around Nahant, which are very interesting to the lovers of natural curiosities.

SWALLOWS CAVE.

The swallows' cave is a passage beneath a high cliff, on the southeastern part of Nahant. The entrance is eight feet high and ten wide. Inside, it is fourteen feet wide, and nearly twenty feet in height. Toward the centre it becomes narrower, and, at the distance of seventy-two feet, opens into the sea. It may be entered about half tide, and passing through, you may ascend to the height above, without returning through the cave. At high tide the water rushes through with great fury. The swallows formerly inhabited this cave in great numbers, and built their nests on the irregularities of the rock above, but the multitude of visiters have frightened them mostly away.

In delineating this delightful cavern, many a vision of early romance rises lovelily before me.

And presses forward to be in my song-, But must not now. —

It is not allowable for a serious historian to indulge in discursions of fancy, else might I record many a legend of love and

HISTORY OF LYNN.

constancy, which has been transmitted down from the olden time, in connexion with this rude and romantic scenery. Here came the Indian maid, in all her artlessness of beauty, to lave her limbs in the enamored water. Here came Wenuchus and Yawata, and other daughters of the forest, to indulge the gushings of their love ; which they had learned, not in the pages of Burns or Byron, but in God's beautiful book of the unsophisticated human heart. Here too, the cliffs, now washed by the pure waves, and dried by many a summer sun, have been purpled by the blood of human slaughter; and perhaps this very cavern has sheltered some Indian mother or daugliter from the tomahawk of the remorseless foe of her nation. Here also, in later times, have lovers pledged their warm and fond affections — happy if the succeeding realities of life have not frustrated the vision of happiness here formed.

Southward from the Swallows' Cave is Pea Island, an irregular rock, about twenty rods broad. It has some soil on it, on which the sea pea grows. It is united to the Swallows' Cliff by a little isthmus, or beach of sand, thirteen rods long.

Eastward from Pea Island are two long, low, black ledges, lying in the water, and covered at high tides, called the Shag Rocks. Several vessels have been wrecked on them.

IRENE S GROTTO.

Passing from the Swallows' Cave along the rocks, near the edge of the water, to the western side of the same cliffy you come to Irene's Grotto — a taU arch, singularly grotesque and beautiful, leading to a large room in the rock. This is one of the greatest curiosities on Nahant, and was formerly much more so until sacrilegious hands broke down part of the roof above, to obtain stone for buildins:.

PULPIT ROCK.

Eastward from Swallows' Cave is Pulpit Eock — a vast block about thirty feet in height, and nearly twenty feet square, standing boldly out in the tide. On the top is an opening, forming a seat ; but from the steepness of the rock on all sides, it is difficult of access. The upper portion of the rock has a striking resemblance to a pile of great books. This rock is so peculiarly unique in its situation and character, that if drawings were made of it from three sides, they would scarcely be supposed to represent the same object.

The Natural Bridge is near Pulpit Rock. It is a portion of the cliff forming an arch across a deep gorge, from which you look down upon the rocks and tide, twenty feet below.

Near East Point is a great gorge, overhung by a precipice on either side, called the Cauldron Cliff; in which, especially during great storms, the water boils with tremendous force and fury. On the right of this, descending another way, is the Roaring Cavern ; having an aperture beneath the rock, through which you hear the roaring of the Cauldron Cliff

■TORY OF LYNN.

On the northeastern side of Nahant, at the extremity of Cedar Point, is Castle Rock, an immense pile, bearing a strong resemblance to the ruins of an old castle. The battlements and buttresses are strongly outlined ; and the square openings in the sides, especially when thrown into deep shadow, appear hke doors, windows, and embrasures. Indeed the whole of Nahant has the appearance of a strongly fortified place.

CASTLE ROCK.

Northwest from Castle Rock is the Spouting Horn. It is a winding fissure in the lower projecting bed of the cliff, in the form of a horn, passing into a deep cavern under the rock. The water is driven through a tunnel, formed by two walls of rock, about one hundred feet, and is then forced into the cavern, from which it is spouted, with great violence, in foam and spray. In a great easterly storm, at half flood, when the tide is coming in with all its power, the water is driven into ihis opening with a force that seems to jar the foundation of the solid rock ; and each wave makes a sound like subterranean thunder. The clifi' rises abruptly forty feet above, but there is a good descent to the mouth of the tunnel.

Westward from the Spouting Horn is a large black ledge, called the Iron Mine, from its great resemblance to that mineral. It embraces a singular cavity, called the Dashing Rock.

At the Northwestern extremity of Nahant, is John's Peril, a vast fissure in the cliff, forty feet perpendicular. It received its name from the following anecdote : John Breed, one of the early inhabitants of Nahant, one day attempted to drive his team between a rock on the hill and this cliff. The passage being nar- 4 row, and finding his team in great peril, he hastily unfastened his oxen ; and the cart, falling down the precipice, was dashed in pieces on the rocks below.

Directly in front of Nahant, at the distance of three-fourths of a mile on the east, is Egg Rock. It rises abruptly from the sea, eighty-six feet in height. Its shape is oval, being forty-five rods in length, and twelve in breadth, containing about three acres. Near the summit is half an acre of excellent soil covered with rank grass. The gulls lay their eggs here in abundance, whence the rock derives its name. The approach to this rock is dangerous, except in calm weather, and there is but one good landing place, which is on the western side. Its shape and colors are highly picturesque. Viewed from the north, it has the semblance of a couchant lion, lying out in front of the town, to protect it from the approach of a foreign enemy — meet emblem of the spirit which slumbers on our shores I

EGG ROCK.

South of Nahant is a dangerous rock, covered at high tide, called Sunk Pvock. On the western side, at the entrance of the harbor, is a cluster of rocks, called the Lobster Rocks.

Little Nahant is one hundred and forty rods long, and seventy broad, containing forty acres. It is a hill, consisting of two graceful elevations, rising eighty feet above the sea, and defended by great battlements of rock, from twenty to sixty feet in height. On the southern side are two deep gorges, called the Great and Little Furnace. Between these is Mary's Grotto, a spacious room, twenty-four feet square, and twenty in height, opening into the sea. It was formerly completely roofed by a great arched rock ; but some of those persons who have no veneration for the sublime works of Nature, have broken down a large portion of it. On the north side of Little Nahant is a fissure called the Wolf's Cave.

Little Nahant is connected to Great Nahant by Nahant Beach, which is somewhat more than half a mile in length, of great smoothness and beauty.

Lyjin Beach, which connects the Nahants to the main land, is two miles in length on the eastern side, and two and a half miles on the western. It is an isthmus, or causeway, of fine shining, gray sand, forming a curve, and rising so high in the centre as generally to prevent the tide from passing over. On the western side it slopes to the harbor, and on the eastern side to the ocean. The ocean side is most beautiful, as here the tide flows out about thirty-three rods, leaving a smooth polished surface of compact sand, so hard that the horse's hoof scarcely makes a print, and the wheel passes without sound. It frequently retains sufficient lustre after the tide has left it, to give it the appearance of a mirror ; and on a cloudy day, the traveller may see the perfect image of his horse reflected beneath, with the clouds below, and can easily imagine himself to be passing, like a spirit, through a world of shadows — a brightly mirrored emblem of his real existence I

It is difficult — perhaps impossible, to convey to the mind of a reader who has never witnessed the prospect, an idea of the beauty and sublimity of this beach, and of the absolute magnificence of the surrounding scenery. A floor of sand, two miles in length, and more than nine hundred feet in breadth, at low tide, bounded on two sides by the water and the sky, and presenting a surface so extensive that two millions of people might stand upon it, is certainly a view which the universe cannot parallel. This beach is composed of movable particles of sand, so small that two thousand of them would not make a grain as large as the head of a pin ; yet these movable atoms have withstood the whole immense power of the Atlantic ocean for centuries — perhaps from the creation !

There are five beaches on the shores of Lynn, and sixteen around Nahant. The names of these, beginning at the east, are Phillips' — Whale — Swampscot — Humfrey's — Lynn — Nahant — Stoney — Bass — Canoe — Bathing — Pea Island — Joseph's — Curlew — Crystal — Dorothy's — Pond — Lewis's — Coral — Reed — Johnson's — and Black Rock Beaches. These together have an extent of nine miles, and most of them are smooth and beautiful. Great quantities of kelp and rock weed are thrown upon these beaches by storms, which are gathered by the farmers for the enrichment of their lands.

Sicanipscot is the original Indian name of the fishing village at the eastern part of the town. This is a place of great natural beauty, bearing a strong resemblance to the Bay of Naples. On the west of Swampscot is a pleasant rock, called ' Black Will's ChfF,' from an Indian Sagamore who resided there. On the

28 H I S T O K Y O F L Y N N .

east is a low and very dangerous ledge of rocks, extending into the sea, called Dread Ledge. The cliffs, coves, and beaches at Swampscot are admirably picturesque, and vie with those of Nahant in romantic beauty.

There are numerous building sites of surpassing loveliness, not only at Nahant and Swampscot, but throughout the whole town ; and when a better taste in architecture shall prevail, and the town becomes as highly ornamented by art as it has been by nature, it will perhaps be surpassed by no town in the Union. I have long endeavored to introduce a style of architecture which shall be in harmony with the wild and natural beauty of the scenery — a style in which the cottages shall appear to grow out of the rocks, and to be born of the woods. In some instances I have succeeded, but most people have been too busy in other occupations to study a cultivated and harmonizing taste. When a style of rural refinement shall prevail — when the hills and cliffs shall be adorned with buildings in accordance with the scenery around — and when men, instead of cutting down every tree and shrub, shall re-clothe nature with the drapery of her appropriate foliage, Lynn Avill appear much more lovely and interesting than at present.

The eminences in different parts of the town, furnish a great variety of pleasing prospects. High Rock, near the centre of the town, is an abrupt cliff, one hundred and seventy feet in height. The view from this rock is very extensive and beautiful. On the east is the pleasant village of Swampscot, with its cluster of slender masts, and its beach covered with boats — Baker's Island with its hght — the white towers of Marblehead — and the distant headland of Cape Ann. On the right is Bunker Hill, with its obelisk of granite — the majestic dome, and the lofty spires of Boston — the beautiful green islands, with the forts and light houses in the bay — and far beyond, the Blue Hills, softly mingling with sky. On the north is a vast range of hill and forest, above which rises the misty summit of Wachusett. Before you is the town of Lynn, with its white houses and green trees — the rail-road cars gliding as if by magic across the landscape — the Long Beach, stretching out in its beauty — the dark rocks of Nahant, crowned with romantic cottages — Egg Rock in its solitary dignity — and the vast ocean, spreading out in its interminable grandeur. There too may be seen a hundred dorys of the fishermen, skimming lightly on the waves — the Swampscot jiggers, bounding like sea birds over the billows — a hundred ships ploughing the deep waters — and the mighty steamers wending their way to and from England. The whole is a splendid panorama of the magnificent Bay of Massachusetts!

Lover's Leap is a beautiful and romantic elevation, one mile northwest from High Rock. It is a steep cliff, on the side of a hill clothed with wood, one hundred and thirty-three feet in height — that is, thirty-three feet to the base of the hill, and one hundred feet above. It furnishes a pleasant view of a large portion of the town.

Pine Hill is half a mile West from Lover's Leap. It is two hundred and twenty-four feet in height. The southwestern extremity of this hill is called Sadler's Rock, which is one hundred and sixty-six feet high. A small distance northward of this, is a cliff, by the road side, which was struck by lightning in 1807, when a portion of the rock, about six tons weight, was split off, and thrown nearly two hundred feet; the bolt leaving its deep traces down the side of the rock. A few rods beyond, where the road is crossed by a brook, is a flat rock, in which is impressed the print of a cloven foot, apparently that of a cow or moose. A stone, lying near, bears the deep impress of a child's feet.

Sagamore Hill is a very pleasant eminence at the northern end of the Long Beach, sixty-six feet in height. It slopes to the harbor on one side, and to the ocean on the other, and has the town lying beautifully in the back ground. Half a mile eastward is Red Rock, which forms a very pretty little promontory in the ocean. Many spots in the hills and forests of Lynn are beautifully wild and romantic. There is a delightful walk on the eastern bank of Saugus River, which passes through one of the loveliest pine groves imaginable. On the eastern side of this river also is the Pirate's Glen, respecting which a legend will be found in the following pages. The view from Round Hill in Saugus is delightful.

There are eight ponds in Lynn, several of which are large, having the appearance of little lakes. Their names are. Cedar — Tomlin's — Flax — Lily — Floating Bridge — Phillips' — Ingalls' — and Bear Pond on Nahant. The first three of these are connected with Saugus River by Strawberry Brook, on which are many mills and factories. The margins of some of these lakes are very pleasant, and will probably, at some more tasteful period, be adorned with beautiful villas and delightful cottages. The water in Tomlin's Pond is sixty feet above the ocean. Floating Bridge Pond is crossed by a bridge which floats on the water. It is four hundred and fifty-six feet in length, and is quite a curiosity, reminding one of the Persian bridge of boats across the Hellespont.

Springs are abundant — some of them exceedingly cold and pure, and good water is easily obtained. A mineral spring exists near the eastern border of the town, the waters of which are celebrated for their medicinal virtues. There are several fine springs on Nahant, particularly North Spring, which is remarkably cold, flowing from an aperture beneath a cliff', into which the sun never shines. One of the early inhabitants of Nahant, having a violent fever, asked for water, which as usual was denied him ; but, watching an opportunity, he escaped from his bed, ran half a mile to this spring, drank as much water as he wanted, and immediately recovered. A curious boihng spring, called Holyoke Spring, Burrounded by willows, is found in a meadow, near the western end of Holyoke street. Another boiling spring may be seen in the clay meadow, near the centre of Saugus. There is also a mineral spring in the western part of that town, near the Maiden line.

Lynn furnishes an admirable study for the geologist. The northern part of the town abounds with rocky hills, composed of porphyry, greenstone, and sienite. Porphyry commences at Red Rock, and passing through the town in a curve toward the northwest, forms a range of hills, including High Rock, Lover's Leap, and Sadler's Rock. The term porphyry is derived from a Greek word signifying purple. It is composed of feldspar and quartz, and is of various colors — purple, red, gray, brown, and black. It gives fire with steel, and is susceptible of a high polish ; the best specimens being very beautiful, equalling the porphyry of the ancients. The western portion of the town comprises ledges and hills of brecciated porphyry ; that is, porphyry which has been broken in fragments, and then cemented by a fluid. The porphyry formation continues on through Saugus. Near the Pirates' Glen is a ledge, which is being disintegrated into very coarse gravel, having the appearance of pumice, or rotten stone. Specimens of clinkstone porphyry are found, which, when struck, give out a metalUc sound. At Lover's Leap, and some other ledges, the porphyry seems to be subsiding into fine hornstone. At Sadler's Rock, it is of a very delicate purple.

The hills, in the eastern section of the town, including the ledges and cliffs at Swampscot, consist of a coarse-grained greenstone, composed of hornblende and feldspar. In opening these ledges, dendrites of manganese have been found, beautifully disposed in the form of trees and shrubs. This tract of greenstone extends through the town, north of the porphyry hills. In many places it is beautifully veined with quartz, and other substances. A little north from the Iron Works in Saugus, is a great ledge by the roadside, with a singidar vein passing through it, having the appearance of a flight of stairs. On the eastern bank of the river, southward from the Iron Works, is a wild, tremendous ledge, from which many vast fragments have fallen, and others seem ready to topple on the head of the beholder.

The northern section of the town comprises fine beds of granite, of a grayish color, composed of feldspar, hornblende, and quartz. It has its name from Siena, in Egypt. It is found in great variety, from very fine to very coarse, and is used for building, and for mill-stones. From the presence of iron ore, it frequently attracts the compass, and occasions much difficulty in surveying. At one place in the Lynn woods, the north end of the needle pointed south ; and at another, it went round forty times in a minute.

Granite occurs, but chiefly in roundish masses, or boulders, composed of feldspar, quartz, and mica. It is not so frequent as formerly, the best specimens having been used for building. It is remarkable, that nearly all these boulders appear to have been brought, by a strong flood, from a considerable distance north ; and many of them were left, in very peculiar and sometimes surprising positions, on the tops of the highest hills and ledges. One of these, near the Salem line, rested on the angular point of a rock, and was a great curiosity, until that rage for destructiveness, which exists in some people, caused it to be blown down by powder. Another boulder, fourteen feet in diameter, weighing one hundred and thirty tons, lay on the very summit of the cliff next east from Sadler's Rock. It appeared to repose so loosely that a strong wind might rock it, yet it required fifteen men with levers to roll it down. A boulder of breccia, on the boundary line between Lynn and Saugus, rests on a ledge of breccia of a different character, and appears to have been removed from its original situation in the north. It is twelve feet in diameter, weighing eighty-three tons. On this line also is a still greater curiosity — a vast rock of greenstone, which appears to have been brought from its bed in the north, and placed on the summit of a hill, where it forms a very picturesque object. It was originally sixteen feet in diameter, weighing two hundred tons ; but several large portions have been detached, either by frost or lightning, perhaps both. It must have been a tremendous torrent, which could have removed rocks of such magnitude, and placed them on such elevations. Many boulders of granite now he on the summit of Little Nahant. The cliffs at this place are greenstone, and on the western end are several specimens of pudding stone. A conglomerate rock, or boulder of breccia, of a very peculiar character, lies in the tide, on the south side of Little Nahant. It is a spheroid, eighteen feet in diameter, weighing two hundred and sixty tons. Its singular disposition of colors renders it a great curiosity.

The western and southern portions of Great Nahant are composed of fine and coarse grained greenstones, and greenstone porphyry. The hills and ledges on the northern side are sienite ; and on the northeast, they are a coarse-grained greenstone, blending into sienite. The southeastern portion is composed of stratified rocks of argillaceous limestone, and argillaceous slate, variously combined, and traversed by immense veins of greenstone. The rocks, in this part, present a very peculiar appear-