Built in 1704 (First Period). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. 21 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1888.
From the record
“The Abraham Adams House is a historic First Period house in Newbury, Massachusetts. Its oldest portion dates to between 1705 and 1707, and its interior retains a number of First and Second Period colonial features.”
Wikipedia article Abraham Adams House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 480 National Register listings published here for Essex County · listed in 1990 · category: Building · built in 1704, First Period.
Also known as. First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR
Town. Newbury town
When was it built? 1704
Architectural style. First Period
National Register reference number.90000245- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
The town of Nev/bury is situated in the extreme northeastern part of Essex county, as well as that of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It touches the sea coast and is noted for its early and later ship-building operations. In the same part of the county is found both West Newbury and the city of Newburyport. It was named from an English town derived from Burgus or borough, later reduced to "New Bourg" or "New Town" and finally to Newburg; but when it came to be written and rewritten in records, it commenced to be spelled Newbury, possibly from the fact that the letters "y" and "g", v/hen written, are similar in appearance.
Prior to 1634 there resided a Rev. Thomas Parker, who taught a free school in England at New Bourg; he was the only son of a Rev. Robert Parker, of whom it was said by Cotton Mather that "he was one of the greatest scholars in England." Rev. Thomas Parker, the son, came to the shores of New England in the month of May, 1634, with a company numbering about one hundred persons, who first went to Ipswich, then styled Agawam, to locate. After passing the winter in Ipswich, it was discovered that there were so many people there that the company swarmed out to other parts to the eastward. Thus it came about that Rev. Parker and many of his English friends settled at what is now Newbury. For all practical purposes, the date of this settlement may well be fixed as in May, 1635, a year after the party of emigrants arrived from England. They v/ent by water through Plum Island Sound and thence up the river, to which they gave the name of their honored leader. Their landing place was not far from the bridge later constructed, and on the north side of the river. About forty persons made up this colony that first braved the "Wild New England Shore." The list is as follows : Thomas Parker, James Noyes and wife, John Woodbridge, Henry Sewall and servants, James Browne and wife, Francis Plumer and wife, Nich- olas Easton and wife, John Easton, William Moody and wife and four sons, Anthony Short, Henry Short and wife, John Spencer, Richard Kent, Sr. and wife, Richard Kent, Jr., Stephen Kent and wife, James Kent, Nicholas Noyes, Thomas Browne, Richard Browne, George Brown, Thomas Coleman, Joseph Plumer and Samuel Plumer. Others soon joined this band, including Richard Dummer and John and Richard Pike, also John Emery, and soon after they had settled (probably in June or July, 1635), the first church was organized. Mr. Parker preached his first sermon in the open air, under the shade of a huge oak tree 'more than a century old, that stood a hundred yards below the Rowley bridge of later days.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 70 fires within 5 miles of Abraham Adams House
between 2015 and 2020, burning about 31 acres in total. None started naturally. 9 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Debris and open burning
22
Equipment and vehicle use
12
Arson/incendiarism
9
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
8
Recreation and ceremony
5
Power generation/transmission/distribution
5
Misuse of fire by a minor
4
Smoking
3
Railroad operations and maintenance
1
Fireworks
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 3,199 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Abraham Adams House between 1800 and 1975: 1,662 Plantae, 940 Animalia, 495 Fungi, 82 Chromista, 11 Protozoa, 7 Unrecorded, 2 Bacteria.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A A Eaton, A Brown, A. A. Eaton and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
10 workings within 5 miles of Abraham Adams House: 8 past producers, 2 producers.
2 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Lead, Silver, Zinc, Copper, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is reproduced in full on its own page, word for word and never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 90000245, 14 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
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