In Massachusetts, a seacoast city that feels like home
“Massachusetts,” my 4-year-old said, articulating every syllable as we crossed the state line. The word rolled off his tongue with familiarity, because the state, indeed, has been part of him for as long as he has been alive. Since the pandemic, we have been back to my hometown of Newburyport, Mass., only twice: once when case numbers plummeted last fall and again this July, just as I’ve done for every July of my son’s life, for every July of his younger brother’s life. My sons know the landscape the way that most of us know the lineage of our parents. At some point, our stories became one.
Newburyport is a seacoast city of about 18,000 that practically abuts the New Hampshire border. Known for its pristine, dune-flecked beaches, and also for its historic potency, the city is home to abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who published the Liberator newspaper, and is also said to be the birthplace of the Coast Guard. In this sense, Newburyport remains tethered to its past.
It is also connected to the future. Multiple highways and a commuter rail — added in the late 1990s — have made the city accessible to more and more people. And the arrival of high-end restaurants and retail outposts, as well as points of interest, such as the Clipper City Rail Trail (the nearly four-mile-long walking path traces former railroad tracks), has encouraged visitors and new residents alike to spend more time in the area that locals affectionately refer to as the Port.
I moved to Newburyport in 1988, when I was 7, attended the public high school and even tended bar at one of the city’s most revered pubs. But each July, for my pilgrimage north, I stay at a cottage at Blue Inn on the Beach, on the barrier land connected to my hometown via causeway. Plum Island, it’s called, named for its native beach plums. The 11-mile-long strip, split between the city of Newburyport and the towns of Newbury, Rowley and Ipswich, also hosts the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. (The island’s southern half is part of the refuge’s 4,700 acres of protected land.)
In Newburyport, I am an expat, but on Plum Island, I am just another tourist, digging my heels into the sand at the tiny hotel — 13 rooms and only a handful of cottages — and holding my breath in anticipation of the sunset over the basin. “Except for a few midweek, one-night stays, we’re booked through summer,” one of the hotel managers reported when I inquired. “We really can’t complain.”
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The island, it turns out, is attracting a steady stream of locals and tourists alike. We missed the area’s buzziest new arrival by mere weeks: The Sunset Club Plum Island, which has taken over the former Angie’s Service Station, opened in mid-August. Owned by the Starlite Management Co., the group responsible for two popular Massachusetts restaurants, the salt-marsh-facing restaurant seats 130 guests outdoors and offers a fire pit, picnic tables, bocce courts and a sandbox for kids.
Chasing the sunset — at the Sunset Club or elsewhere — is practically a rite of passage on Plum Island. One night, my sons and I walked down to the tidal basin, where an orange orb hung like a faceless jack-o’-lantern. Later, as the haze from Western wildfires blew across the Northeast, the sun turned an ominous red, spectacular above the swaying marsh grass.
We established, too, a nightly ritual of walking to the Cottage, a market hawking Richardson’s ice cream from a window. On a rainy Sunday, we perused the stalls at the Newburyport Farmers’ Market, which operates from the Tannery Marketplace — a retail center built in a restored mill. At night, we snagged the last outdoor table at a restaurant in the same complex, the Joy Nest, a Thai-inspired restaurant that opened in February. My sons pulled springy noodles from a bowl and slurped them up, one by one, while I chipped away at a dish of gravy-soaked rad na noodles.
Returning to a hometown for vacation is the slowest of travel, a meandering trip through memory. I took my sons to the places I continue to love the most, such as the convenience store in town, Richdale, which sells penny candy by the pound and sweatshirts made in my high school’s colors of maroon and gold. I drove them to the neighboring town of Merrimac, well before dusk, for smash burgers and curly fries at Skip’s Snack Bar, which has served this same menu every summer since 1947; there, I ordered my burger the way I have for nearly 40 years: extra pickles, plenty of onion. The serpentine fries were gone — snatched by toddlers — before I had a chance to lick my fingers.
On the drive to Sandy Point the next morning — the beach at the southern tip of Plum Island — I told my boys to watch for birds. The flat and dusty road that tracks the reservation provides an unobstructed view of the Parker River estuary, where migrating birds regularly cross overhead.
A moody gray sky developed, and a wind kicked up from the ocean, but we withstood rain for a chance to visit the area’s nicest beach. Sandy Point, with its minuscule parking lot, is sprawling at low tide, a spit of sand that extends nearly as far as the eye can see. The gulls made makeshift nests from withered beach grass. “An egg!” my youngest cried, and there it was, a fist-size specimen the same slate gray as the sky, proof of the island’s continuing cycle of rebirth.
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Before nightfall, we walked down to the dune-steep beach across the street from our cottage. There, we sat overlooking the navy water, until my sons ran down to dip their toes in, back and forth along the shore like puppies. They deposited shells at my feet. “Can we keep them?” they wanted to know. At home, weeks later, I unloaded a beach bag filled with these collectibles: oysters and clams, tiny bits of sea glass, the ephemera of our vacation that they have taken with us as memory’s foothold.
But before we made the long trip back home to Long Island, we headed 12 miles southwest down the road, to Rowley, for our final morning in town. Todd Farm, the decades-old flea market that convenes each Sunday in spring, summer and fall, provides endless entertainment: ancient jewelry, creaky furniture, treasures of the road. In the glinting sunlight, my children run their hands over toys, tools, rescued junk. They have seen the best and brightest highlights of my own childhood, played out in a slide show of summer. “Is it time to go home now?” they ask, practically in unison. They don’t know that we’ve been here, at home, all along.
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Selinger is a writer based in East Hampton, N.Y. Her website is hannahselinger.net. Find her on Twitter: @hannahselinger.
The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted travel domestically and around the world. You will find the latest developments at www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus
If you go
Where to stay
Blue Inn on the Beach
20 Fordham Way, Plum Island, Newbury
978-463-6128
An upscale beach hotel with 13 rooms and fully outfitted cottages on the barrier land known as Plum Island. Rooms from $637 per night, cottages from $559 per night.
Where to eat
The Joy Nest
50 Water St., Newburyport
978-572-1615
Dine indoors or out at this Newburyport newcomer, which offers an Asian-inspired menu of noodles, rice dishes and street eats. Open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 3 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 3 p.m. to midnight and Sunday 3 to 9 p.m. Entrees from $16.
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The Cottage Island Market & Spirits
14 Plum Island Tpk., Newbury
978-255-1008
The Cottage Creamery, an ice cream stand attached to this year-round market, sells Richardson’s famous ice cream. Open Sunday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and Tuesday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ice cream from $4.
Skip’s Snack Bar
92 E. Main St., Merrimac
978-346-8686
Since 1947, this restaurant has churned out smash burgers and curly fries to an adoring summer crowd. Open seasonally, closes Sept. 5. Open Wednesday to Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday. Sandwiches from $2.50.
Sunset Club Plum Island
4 Old Point Rd., Newbury
978-255-1016
A new Plum Island attraction, this largely outdoor venue offers family-friendly entertainment, an inventive menu and signature cocktails. Open daily 3 to 9 p.m. Entrees from $13, cocktails from $12 and canned drinks from $6.
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Richdale Food Store
1 Pleasant St., Newburyport
978-465-9808
With a little of everything, this convenience store (and its penny candy selection) offers a taste of local culture. Open daily 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
What to do
Sandy Point State Reservation
Parker River Wildlife Refuge Rd., Ipswich
978-462-4481
mass.gov/locations/sandy-point-state-reservation
This 77-acre beach at Plum Island’s southern tip offers tide pools, swimming and sunbathing on unique preserved land. Open daily sunrise to sunset. Free entry to Sandy Point.
Todd Farm Antique Shops and Flea Market
275 Main St., Rowley
978-948-2217
With up to 240 vendors, this decades-old flea market showcases items such as niche antiques and potted plants. Open Sundays 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. April to November.
Clipper City Rail Trail and Harborwalk
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Merrimack River to Newburyport Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station
978-462-6680
The 3.9-mile trail for running, walking and biking runs along defunct railroad tracks and is home to public art installations. Open all hours. Free.
Newburyport Farmers’ Market
50 Water St., Newburyport
978-457-6644
thenewburyportfarmersmarket.org
Farmers, fishers, chefs and creatives showcase their wares at this weekly market. Open Sundays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. April through November.
Information
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