Community Overview
The North Shore communities have varied and rich histories: Gloucester was America's first fishing community; Salem was the location of the infamous Witch Trials as well as one of the largest centers of shipping and sixth largest city in early America. The hysteria that led to the Witch Trials began in the part of Salem that is now present-day Danvers. Lynn was once the center of the American shoe industry. Saugus is home to the first integrated ironworks in North America. Peabody had the largest concentration of leather tanneries in the world; and Beverly and Marblehead often dispute over which town was the birthplace of the American Navy. Newburyport was well known for producing clipper ships and for a brief time in history was the richest city in the Union; it is also the birthplace of the United States Coast Guard. Newburyport maintains the largest collection of Federal period commercial and residential architecture in the nation
