History and Culture Links

The following museums and organizations interpret the importance of the Great Marsh to our history and culture.

Custom House Maritime Museum

Lowell's Boat Shop

Essex Shipbulding Museum

The Schooner Adventure

Society for the Protection of New England Antiquities

Essex National Heritage Area

Peabody Essex Museum

The Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester features the largest collection of paintings and drawings by the painter Fitz Hugh Lane, and many other artists who were inspired by the region's light and landscapes. The Custom House Maritime Museum in Newburyport is officially designated an Essex National Heritage Area Visitor Center. The museum maintains original artifacts from the prosperous trade era including maritime art, models of Newburyport-built vessels, trades routes, journals and old maps illustrating the city's birth. Historic New England maintains the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury and the Cogswell's Grant property (c.1730) in Essex, providing wonderful examples of early settlement farming in the region.