"No man ever set foot in this region who has filled so large a place in the World's history, and it is well to recall the incidents of his visit ... His tour was, from end to end, one long ovation."
— From Robert S. Rantoul's 1922 account of George Washington's visit to the North Shore
On Thursday, Oct. 15, 1789 — 220 years ago this autumn — the new American president, George Washington, recorded in his journal that he'd departed "about 9 o'clock for Boston and a tour through the Eastern States."
At the time Washington was living in Manhattan, the original seat of the U.S. government. His purpose was "to acquire the knowledge of the face of the Country, the growth and agriculture thereof — and the temper and disposition of the inhabitants toward the new government."
As the historian Ronald N. Tagney explains, "Washington had come to New England seeking first-hand knowledge of the economy ... he found that the region's economy, juxtaposed between the torpor of the war years and the booming Federalist decade, was undergoing a metamorphosis. It would take time, however, to build from a quarter-century of Revolutionary ferment."
Washington's retinue consisted of Maj. William Jackson, Col. Tobias Lear, six "servants," and a baggage wagon.
Traveling through Connecticut, western Massachusetts, Cambridge and Boston, Washington entered Essex County by way of Lynn on Thursday, Oct. 29. He was met by "a party of Horse" led by General Titcomb who conducted the President to Marblehead.
Washington noted that although Marblehead was "4 miles out of the way," he "wanted to see it."
"The chief employment of the People of Marblehead (males)," Washington noted, "is fishing; about 110 vessels and 800 men and boys are engaged in this business." But the war had taken its toll, and the president also observed that Marblehead "has the appearance of antiquity; the Houses are old; the streets dirty; and the common people not very clean."
In his address to the selectmen (including John Glover, whose nautical regiment had famously ferried Washington across the Delaware River during the war), Washington told them, "I desire to engage your thoughts on the pleasing prospect presented to all our interests, and particularly to our fishery, in the efficiency of our government, and the invigorated industry of our citizens ... Your attachment to the constitution of the United States is worthy of men, who fought and bled for freedom, and who know its value."
Washington enjoyed a "cold Collation" at the home of Martha Swett Lee, the widow of Jeremiah Lee, an early financial backer of the war; afterward, he visited "the Harbour, their fish brakes for curing fish, &c."
Flag signals and 13 canon blasts from Fort Lee announced Washington's arrival in Salem later that day. Before entering town, the 6-foot-tall president "quitted his carriage, and mounted a beautiful white horse," according to the Salem Mercury. He proceeded along "Court Street" (now Washington Street), to the west end of "Main Street" (now Essex Street), to Federal Street where he reviewed the assembled troops and acknowledged the massive procession of dignitaries, justices, clergy, merchants, laborers, school masters, and schoolchildren. Washington then made his way under escort to Buffum's Corner, where, flanked by the Salem Cadets, William Northey, chairman of the selectmen, pronounced, "Friend Washington, we are glad to see thee, and, in behalf of the inhabitants, bid thee a hearty welcome to Salem!"
From the balcony of the courthouse, Washington paid his respects to the "innumerable crowd" which dispersed after several "most loud Huzzas," according an account by the Rev. William Bentley. The President was then escorted by the Cadets to his "lodgings" at Joshua Ward's house.
That evening, the president attended a "brilliant Assembly at Concert Hall" (the Assembly House on Federal Street) where, he noted, "there was at least an hundred handsome and well dressed Ladies."
Salem merchant Elias Hasket Derby provided an elegant armchair for the president's use that evening. (A replica may be seen at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site's Derby House; the original chair recently sold at auction for $1.5 million.)
The following morning the president rode out of Salem towards Beverly, crossing over the Essex Bridge, which was "beautifully dressed with the flags of different nations." There, he visited the "Cotton Manufactory," the first in the country, where the president observed the "new Invented Carding and Spinning Machines," he noted, "one of which spins 84 threads at a time by one person ... In short, the whole seemed perfect, and the Cotton stuffs w'ch they turn out, excellent of their kind."
"With escorts of Horse," Washington continued on to Ipswich where he was met by the selectmen, Col. Nathaniel Wade's regiment, and Tristam Dalton of Newburyport. He enjoyed a "cold collation" at Susanna How Homans' tavern on the South Green where he received Col. Wade and Col. John Heard, and kissed "little Rebekah Dodge," the daughter of his old friend, Col. Dodge — "an incident never forgotten by the crowd," according to the Rev. Augustine Caldwell.
Washington then proceeded over the Choate Bridge to Newburyport, his final destination for the day.
North Shore communities had indeed feted the president well.
Ironically, however, just as some residents were celebrating their liberty from the "tyranny" and "enslavement" by Great Britain, Washington had recently issued instructions to the governor of the Western Territories "in case the hostile disposition of the Indians was such as to make it necessary to call out the Militia."
And the "servants" who accompanied Washington on his tour? They were enslaved African Americans. And the cotton used in the Beverly factory the president had so admired had been shipped north from southern plantations that employed slave labor.
Nor did the Founding Fathers "remember the ladies" in the Constitution as Abigail Adams, the second president's wife, had urged.
The promise of freedom and equality in America did not yet apply to everyone in 1789.
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Local author and historian Bonnie Hurd Smith has written previously for the opinion pages.
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