NEWBURYPORT — Strolling by First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist Church throughout Yankee Homecoming likely had folks wondering if they had stumbled back into Colonial times as the church reinvented itself for the annual Heritage Tours celebrating the city’s history.
With cardboard Colonial stand-ins set up outside for pictures, volunteers dressed up like they were walking out of the 1700s. At the same time, a craft table was set up for kids so they could craft paper hats and write in cursive using a real feather quill. The prompted plenty of families to constantly pause their walks along Pleasant Street to check out what the church was offering.
Volunteers helped measure the heads of children before helping them create tri-corner hats out of strips of paper, while adults were more drawn to working on their cursive.
Both parents and kids alike were eager to get photos using the colonial cardboard stand-ins, making silly faces and getting volunteers to help with group pictures.
Local Historian Ghlee Woodworth runs the Heritage Tours throughout the city, noting that she does over 20 ranging from boat tours to cemetery tours and everything in between at different historic locations. The tours ran all throughout Yankee Homecoming.
“I’ve been very busy with all my tours. The other church tours have had a nice attendance, and everybody, whether it’s boat walking, church tour, cemetery tour, they love learning about local history,” Woodworth said.
Speaking about the church’s history, Woodworth said it is actually celebrating its 300th anniversary. On display just inside the church was an old clock hand from the church’s former Market Square building, which was struck by lightning in 1754.
“The lightning went down, kind of blew up the clock, and went all the way down to the first floor of the pews. Several months later, Ben Franklin came to visit family here in Newburyport and studied the destruction,” Woodworth said.
She said her favorite part of the Heritage Tours was being able to get kids interested in the city’s rich history.
“It’s great to get the children involved at a young age,” Woodworth said.
Yankee Homecoming President Jason LaCroix said he has managed to visit a few of the tours and has had a great time learning from them.
“I think they’re a great part of Homecoming. I wouldn’t mind seeing them expand even more. There’s a ton there to do. Newburyport has a ton of history. There’s still probably a ton of untold history,” LaCroix said.
Yankee Homecoming Chairperson Brittany Verville thanked Woodworth for organizing the tours.
“They are a tremendous way for folks and families to learn more about the city,” Verville said.