Essex National Heritage Area
Tom Leonard, President, ENHC

Tom Leonard,
President Emeritus, ENHC

Tom Leonard writes a monthly column for the community newspapers in the Essex National Heritage Area. This is a reprint of this month's column.
tleonard
at essexheritage.org.

Columns
Essex Heritage Conducts Annual Fall Meeting

Last Tuesday morning at the majestic Crane Estate in Ipswich, Essex Heritage held its annual fall meeting. The leadership of the Commission provided comprehensive recaps of the activities and mission of Essex Heritage. The Commission is indebted to the Trustees of Reservation for their generosity for providing the location for the meeting. The weather that day was sensational and the trip out to the Crane Estate early that morning was like passing through a video of the perfect New England fall landscape. We witnessed sunlight from the sunrise peeking through the trees, mist and fog enveloping the marshes and a generally peaceful feel of New England at the start of another day. My wife and I came upon a young deer and his mother who were feeding along the side of the road as we climbed the road to the mansion The pair of deer added to the peaceful feeling of the scene as they never moved from their task as we passed. The meeting brought the term of the presidency of Kevin Tierney to an end and introduced our newest President Richard Yagjian.

I was pleased that I was once again offered the opportunity to participate in the meeting and provided a presentation regarding the loss of two iconic figures from this region who passed away since our last meeting in the spring. Harriet Webster accomplished many deeds in her life especially in the City of Gloucester where she lived for the past 41 years. I believe that she is best remembered for her extraordinary accomplishments as the Executive Director of the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center, now Maritime Gloucester. Joseph E. Garland was a journalist, sailor, community activist, and prolific author, and was once described by John Updike as “the definitive historian of the North Shore”. Joe published 24 books – many focused on the history of Gloucester and this region. A moment of silence was observed in their memory.

I also presented the Essex Heritage Special Recognition Award and the Pioneers in Partnership Awards to the following:

Doug Law of the National Park Service: Three years ago when Essex Heritage approached the National Park Service with the idea of hiring local youth to work at the park, Doug stepped up and helped us create what has become an exemplary summer jobs program. Essex Heritage is very pleased to recognize Doug for his commitment and leadership in developing this program.

Each year the Essex National Heritage Commission presents a number of Pioneer in Partnership awards to individuals and organizations who exemplify the Commission’s spirit of collaboration. The award recognizes those who build partnerships with others. Awards were presented to the following:

Wayne Eisenhauer of Historic Danvers received an award not only for his years of volunteer work with the Danvers Historical Society but also for his newest initiative on the Life and Legacy of Governor John Endicott. Working with Governor Endicott’s descendents, Essex Heritage and Massachusetts General/North Shore Medical Center, Wayne helped to coordinate an extraordinary evening last April at the Medical Center in Danvers. The event focused on Endicott’s legacy and the Endicott pear tree – the oldest cultivated fruit tree in North America. Wayne followed that achievement by partnering with Endicott College in Beverly to host an exhibit on Governor Endicott, presented as part of Trails & Sails 2011.

Amy Glowacki is the National Park Service Park Ranger and Youth Programs Coordinator at Lowell National Historical Park. and was recognized because of the remarkable job she did last summer with the “Youth Journey on the High Seas.”

Last August the National Park Service sailed the tall ship Friendship to New York City to participate in a five-day youth summit. A companion award was made to the NPS Professional and Volunteer Crew of tall ship Friendship of Salem and to the ship’s acting captain Jeremy Bumagin. The park staff and the more than 60 volunteers who help to maintain and sail this one-of-a-kind tall ship do a remarkable job, as on the trip, they encountered some of the most challenging weather of the summer – from thunderstorms to rain and high seas.

They are now planning an even longer journey for next summer – when they hope to take Friendship to Baltimore to join in the commemoration of the War of 1812. We wish them all the best as they plan for this trip.

The final award was presented to the Committee to Save the Lower Green and Essex County Greenbelt Association. They received am award for their work to save the historic farm-land adjacent to the Lower Green in Newbury. The Lower Green is a significant heritage landscape on the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway. Several acres of pastureland next to the Newbury Lower Green were slated for a housing sub-division, and the historic view – essentially unchanged since the 17th century - would be altered forever. The volunteer group sought and gained the help of many. Together, this October, they reached their goal – an amazing $500,000 to permanently protect the 4-acre Newman Farm Meadow in Newbury.

Thomas M. Leonard is President Emeritus of the Essex National Heritage Commission, Inc., the nonprofit management entity of the Essex National Heritage Area, and can be reached by clicking here.