Items | Marblehead Walking Tour Characters of Marblehead's Past
Marblehead Walking Tour Characters of Marblehead's Past
Marblehead
Important Information
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Wheelchair accessible
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Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
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Service animals allowed
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Public transportation options are available nearby
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Transportation options are wheelchair accessible
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Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Cancellation policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
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For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
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Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.
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If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
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This experience requires a minimum number of travelers. If it’s canceled because the minimum isn’t met, you’ll be offered a different date/experience or a full refund.
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Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
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Join a born and raised local storyteller for a 90-minute, easy paced walking tour through Old Town Marblehead, where a small group threads together seven storytelling stops drawn entirely from town records and local lore. Along the way, you'll meet a privateer, a witch, a wizard, and the man who reportedly arrived from Salem inside a barrel; stand at Screaming Woman Beach to hear the legend of the captured Spanish ship and the eerie sound the wind makes off the rocks on storm nights; and learn the tale of the 130-foot sea serpent of 1817, the hunting club that pursued it for a century, and the spot where it was last seen. The route passes the Jeremiah Lee Mansion 1768, where George Washingto...
Highlights
1 hour and 30 minutes
Offered in English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
1 hour and 30 minutes
Offered in English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
What's Included
Marblehead's original cookies: The Joe Frogger
Meeting Points
Departure
The Old Town House in front of the double doors facing the parking lot.
Return
I will be dropping you off at a local sail bar where you can grab dinner and some drinks, right down the street from our meeting place!
Marblehead Walking Tour Characters of Marblehead's Past
Marblehead
About
Join a born and raised local storyteller for a 90-minute, easy paced walking tour through Old Town Marblehead, where a small group threads together seven storytelling stops drawn entirely from town records and local lore. Along the way, you'll meet a privateer, a witch, a wizard, and the man who reportedly arrived from Salem inside a barrel; stand at Screaming Woman Beach to hear the legend of the captured Spanish ship and the eerie sound the wind makes off the rocks on storm nights; and learn the tale of the 130-foot sea serpent of 1817, the hunting club that pursued it for a century, and the spot where it was last seen. The route passes the Jeremiah Lee Mansion 1768, where George Washingto...
Highlights
1 hour and 30 minutes
Offered in English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
1 hour and 30 minutes
Offered in English
Free Cancellation
Mobile Ticket
What's Included
Marblehead's original cookies: The Joe Frogger
Meeting Points
Departure
The Old Town House in front of the double doors facing the parking lot.
Return
I will be dropping you off at a local sail bar where you can grab dinner and some drinks, right down the street from our meeting place!
Itinerary
1
Marblehead
Stop 1 — Mugford Street (Pass by, ~10 min) Captain Mugford & the Golden Cod. The street named for one of Marblehead's youngest heroes — a privateer who outsmarted the British Navy and was killed at sea two weeks later. We also tell the story of the Golden Cod, the gold-leafed wooden fish that became Marblehead's symbol of good health and good hospitality.
10 minutes
2
Marblehead
Stop 2 — Reds Pond / Old Burial Hill (Stop and explore, ~15 min) Wizard Diamond & Mammy Redd. On the hill where 600 Revolutionary sailors lie buried, two of Marblehead's most famous characters: Edward "Wizard" Diamond, who summoned storms by name, and Wilmot "Mammy" Redd, the village's only victim of the 1692 Salem witch trials. Both stories play out within sight of each other.
15 minutes
3
Marblehead
Stop 3 — Gas House Beach / Little Harbor (Stop and explore, ~10 min) The man who came in a barrel. This is where Marblehead actually began. John Doliber, sick of Salem's Puritan strictness, reportedly floated across the harbor inside a wooden hogshead barrel and lived in it before settling onto land. We also pause to acknowledge the Algonquin nation, who summered on this coast long before any English ship arrived.
10 minutes
4
Fort Sewall
Stop 4 — Fort Beach (Pass by, ~10 min) The Sea Serpent of 1817. Off Tinkers Island, just offshore, hundreds of people once watched a 130-foot creature swim past. Fourteen humps, dark brown, a white mouth. The Sea Serpent Hunting Club chased it for over a century. The last reported sighting was off Newfoundland in 1997.
10 minutes
5
Fort Sewall
Stop 5 — The Barnacle / Screaming Woman Beach (Stop and explore, ~15 min) Pirates, tunnels & a screaming ghost. Marblehead is honeycombed with old pirate tunnels — the basements of historic homes still show their walled-up openings. The caves under nearby Fort Sewall once hid rum, weapons, and fugitives. And it was on this cove that pirates dragged ashore an English noblewoman whose refusal cost her everything. Locals say her screams still ride the wind on stormy nights.
15 minutes
6
Marblehead
Stop 6 — Washington Street (Pass by, ~10 min) Captain Foster's stolen fortune & the Jeremiah Lee Mansion. At Putnam's Tavern (long gone), locals once traded the story of Captain Foster — whose Spanish doubloons were swapped for iron in a Salem bank vault. Across the way: the 1768 Jeremiah Lee Mansion, where George Washington, John Hancock, Lafayette, and Elbridge Gerry once dined.
10 minutes
7
Marblehead
Stop 7 — The Lafayette House (Stop and explore, ~8 min) The House With No Corner. We end at the famous "House With No Corner" — and the corner that isn't there. Three theories: that it was sliced off so General Lafayette's carriage could make the turn in 1824; that it was a shop entrance; or that it had to do with water flow. Nobody actually knows. We'll lay all three out and let you decide.
