Georgetown, Massachusetts

The town of Georgetown, the twenty-seventh in the sisterhood of Essex County, and numbering three hundred and three in the line of date of incorpora tion of the towns then existing within the limits of the State, has for its natal day April 21, 1838. Two municipalities besides Georgetown were at that session of the General Court granted permission "to be." One, a poor, feeble child of the commonwealth, on the extreme western border, was, just a week before, in exquisite raillery it would seem, ushered into the family as Boston Corner, and then, after a few brief years, with its square mile of territory and seventythree inhabitants, was quietly or otherwise disposed of to our New York neighbors. The other, known originally as " Erving's Grant," became the town of Erving, in Franklin County. That town has had a moderate growth in a fairly, fertile agricultural district, and to-day continues with but slight increase from one census point to another. Georgetown is located about six miles northerly of the geographical centre of the county, and on the southern border of the Merrimac towns. It has an outline of five sides known as quinquangular, having that number of rather unequal sides, but bounded, however, by four towns only, viz : Boxford, extending along the west and south; Rowley on the southeast; Newbury on the east; Groveland along the entire north; and without any marked change of boundary line, exists to-day as when set off from Rowley, the mother-territory, nearly a half-century ago. Its greatest length is from west-northwest to east-southeast, nearly five and three-fourths miles. This is from the angle north of the house of Mrs. Edward Poor, on West Street, to a point about one-half mile southeast of the new cemetery in Byfield, and its extreme width, three and one-half miles, is from just north of the Thurlow estate, on Thurlow Street, to the noted boundary-mark where Rowley, Boxford and Georgetown lines diverge a large red oak tree of which the charred stump now remains, known from early times as the " Three Sisters." A Sunday raccoon hunt by some of our local sportsmen is understood to tell the story of its destruction, a score or more of years ago.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

The seventy-first deg'ree west, Greenwich, at the Boxford boundary is just west of the B. & M. R. R., across which the railroad diverges to the west of the line near the residence of H. P. Chaplin, Esq., crossing Georgetown village very nearly where the First Congregational Church stands and Main Street a few rods northwest of the centre, having the eastern corner of Groveland and the villages of West Newbury and Merrimac on the same line at the north. Directly south is the most westerly section of Lynn, East Saugus, West Peabody, Middleton and Boxford village. Located within the latitude of 42° 42' to 45', this town has exactly on the western line the city of Lawrence, the denser part of Methuen, the river side of North Andover, West Boxford, and eastwardly the entire town of Rowley, the Great Neck district of Ipswich, and along the ocean all that part of Plum Island within Rowley and Ipswich. The nearest point to the open Atlantic, from the village centre on the air line, is across Hog Isl'and and just south of the division on Plum Island between Rowley and Ipswich, about ten and one-half miles. The entrance to Ipswich River, the same distance. In favoring conditions of wind and atmosphere, the beating of the surf on Plum Island, after or during a gale, and Ipswich beach before the storm is upon us, is distinctly heard in this town. The nearest point to Merrimac river, is at the boundary between Bradford and Groveland, distance three and one-fifth miles. Direct line to Haverhill bridge railroad station five and one-half miles. Nearest point to State line, a point about midway of Plaistow, N. H., just north of Kenoza Lake, six and three-fourths miles. City of Lawrence eight and one-half miles ; and the factory bells are heard frequently and very clearly. The tide-water at Byfield not quite four miles distant.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

The topographical features of the town are first, the Baldpate as the most prominent elevation, extending in its foot hills nearly to Central Street on its western side, and includes the entire southwestern section of the town. It attains at its highest altitude about four hundred feet above the sea, with a broad, level tract at its northeast base, terminating sharply at Rock Pond. This hill was known as Baldpate (or including the hill in Boxford near by, known as Shaven-crown) as the Bald hills from early times. The divisional line between Baldpate and its neighbor is distinctly defined, extending over the town limits just beyond the boundary line. This is a well-watered country, Lake Raynorand a small pond at the head of Raynor with a swampy margin, both in Boxford, absorbing all of the several streams, coursing down the southern slope. The eastern water-shed is into the westerly branch of Pen Brook, while the northwestern flowing into Half-Moon Meadow reaches Parker River just westerly of Scrag Pond. The Uptake district, in the northwest, has its southern side only in Georgetown, quite precipitous and ragged. This district is principally in Groveland. Another hilly section west uf Pen Brook and east of Elm Street, separated from the Baldpate district by the plain at South Georgetown called in early times Fair-face, extends from a gentle upland at the northern end of this section, threefourths of a mile southerly, to an abrupt and peculiar termination, just in the rear of the residence of S. K. Herrick, anciently the home of Capt. Benj. Adams, designated formerly as "Tanner Adams." This is the " Red Shanks " locality, and has been known as such for at least one hundred and sixty years ; why it bears this name is difficult to conjecture, although it may have been from the color of the rock formation. East Street traverses a natural notch up the western slope of this district. This tract at its highest point is not far from two hundred feet above the ocean, and has such singular features, that experienced travellers and scientists as Profs. C. H. Hitchcock and J. H. Huntington have noticed and remarked its peculiarities.

Passage source: History of Essex County, Massachusetts, with Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Pioneers and Prominent Men, published 1888.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Georgetown Town - it names this place 60 more 60 times.