These early settlers handed down to the present generation a rich historical heritage. The success of the first local industries of rope, sailmaking, fishing, and farming is evidenced in the proud homes that remain in Beverly.

The 1636 Balch House is the oldest frame house in the United States. The witchcraft delusion of 1692 began and ended in Beverly. The harbor provided the most important port in the first two years of the Revolutionary War.

General George Washington's Colonial Fleet was born here with the commissioning of the armed schooner Hannah on September 2, 1775. It was also from Beverly Harbor that the ships, Hancock and Franklin, sailed on October 22, 1775. They were the first ships to sail under Congressional orders and were, therefore, the first ships of the Continental Navy. Independence Park was the site of the only Continental Army post north of Boston, and it was here that the Declaration of Independence was first read before assembled troops and townspeople on July 17, 1776.

The first cotton mill in America was built in Beverly in 1787, and the ensuing trade and commerce brought other industries. In 1894 the township was incorporated as a city.

Cabot House 1781
117 Cabot Street. Headquarters of the Beverly Historical Society. Brick mansion of Revolutionary War privateer John Cabot. Built a year after it was written that "the Cabots of Beverly are now said to be by far the most wealthy in New England."

Continental navy exhibit; period rooms, portrait and primitive art collection; dolls; military and changing exhibits.

Balch House 1636
448 Cabot Street. One of the two oldest wood frame houses in America. Born in 1579, John Balch came to America in 1623 as one of the first permanent settlers of Massachusetts Bay.