NEWBURYPORT — Less than a week away, Yankee Homecoming not brings the community together to form fun memories, but it also serves as way to remember and honor the city’s rich past.
“The history is very popular,” local historian Ghlee Woodworth said. “Yankee Homecoming is one of the many nonprofits that helps highlight and celebrate our citizens and their contributions to Newburyport and beyond. Since 1958, Yankee Homecoming has celebrated the community, and this is one opportunity to showcase Newburyport’s past.”
Over a dozen events are lined up to highlight the city’s history during Yankee Homecoming, which is scheduled from Sunday, July 25, to Sunday, Aug. 2, with a theme of “Home Sweet Home.”
One event Woodworth felt it important to highlight was a brand new one, the Belleville Cemetery Tour set for Yankee Homecoming’s first day, from 4 to 5 p.m.
“This is the first time that a tour has been given at Belleville Cemetery up on Storey Ave.,” Woodworth said. “It features the final resting places of shipbuilders, a lighthouse keeper, an Air Force test pilot, authors, the benefactor of The Home for Aged Men right across from Atkinson Common, and the founder of the Newburyport Public Library.”
Woodworth said on tours she usually stops by gravesites and gives a four- to five-minute talk on the individual, allowing for questions and offering handouts.
“I’m a laid-back presenter, so on any walking tour, cemetery tour or presentation, people can ask questions all along the way,” Woodworth said.
Another new tour Woodworth will conduct is Women of Oak Hill Cemetery on July 30 from 10 to 11 a.m.
Highlighted women include some who helped prevent part of downtown from being bulldozed in the 1960s such as Josephine Little Driver, as well as community benefactors such as Julia Hale Moseley.
“This is fun – there are benefactors, authors, teachers, artists,” Woodworth said. “It’s a lot of fun going through Oak Hill Cemetery, stopping at the graves, and talking about their contributions to the community and beyond.”
One other new event Woodworth spoke about is History Tour: Newburyport’s Synagogue and Congregation Ahavas Achim, scheduled for July 31 from 11 a.m. to noon.
“Rabbi Alex Matthews and historian Kristine Malpica will be doing a talk about the history of the Jewish community here, which was founded in 1896,” Woodworth said. “It’s one of the oldest Jewish congregations in Massachusetts.”
She said celebrating history has always been a core part of the Yankee Homecoming festivities.
“It helped bring all the businesses and the community together to showcase Newburyport’s history,” Woodworth said. “Yankee Homecoming essentially meant, ‘OK, all you folks from New England and from all over this country, come back this summer and help celebrate Newburyport and the important contributions of its citizens over the past almost 400 years to Massachusetts, New England and the nation’s history,’”
Yankee Homecoming Chair Carole Appleton agreed history is always an important part of the celebration, noting that she has her own unique history with Yankee Homecoming.
“My dad was the chairman in 1974,” Appleton said. “So I learned early. That that was just part of my history growing up, knowing about Yankee Homecoming and the history of our town.”
For full schedules and information, visit yankeehomecoming.com.
Matt Petry covers Amesbury and Salisbury for The Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: mpetry@northofboston.com.