Harbor Range Lights

The month of May promises warmer weather, blooming flowers, and exciting events at the Museum of Old Newbury.  On Wednesday, May 10, local historians Skip and Marge Motes will illuminate the fascinating history of Newburyport’s harbor range lights at a mid-day history program at the museum.  On Wednesday, May 17, a special evening reception at the museum’s Perkins Printing and Engraving Plant will take place as part of Preservation Week. 
 
At 12:15 on Wednesday, May 10, bring your lunch to the museum and enjoy a free program about Newburyport's harbor range lights by Skip and Marge Motes.  These lights have been prominent on the waterfront for nearly 150 years and were first lit May 27, 1873, with “such great brilliancy as to be seen distinctly ten to twelve miles at sea.”  The Motes' presentation will take the audience on a unique journey from this first lighting to the present.
 
Drawing on primary sources and the rich photographic resources of the waterfront, the Motes have written a comprehensive history of the harbor range lights and their place in Newburyport’s maritime heritage. Their book, titled Harbor Range Lights: Newburyport, Massachusetts is illustrated with over forty photographs and maps chronicling the decline of Newburyport through the Great Depression into the 1960s, and then the optimism of renewal and growth to the present.