Ipswich River is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, United States. It held significant importance in early colonial migrations inland from the ocean port of Ipswich. The river provided safe harborage at offshore Plum Island Sound to early Massachusetts subsistence farmers, who were also fishermen. A part of the river forms town boundaries and divides Essex County, Massachusetts on the coast from the more inland Middlesex County.[1] It is 35 miles (56 km) long,[2] and its watershed is approximately 155 square miles (401 km2), with an estimated population in the area of 160,000 people.[3]
Historically, the settlement of Essex County began at the oldest community there, the tiny seaport of Agawam (later renamed Ipswich, and not to be confused with present-day Agawam in Hampden County), and typically proceeded westward and northward along the Ipswich or its tributary creeks. When Middlesex County was formed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, only Salem and Charlestown across the Charles River mouth and Boston harbor's inner estuary from Boston's much smaller hill dominated peninsula were older settlements.
The upper river runs through and drains at least parts of Burlington, the lower river forms part of the borders between the towns of:
North Reading and Lynnfield
Middleton and the city of Peabody
Middleton and Danvers, and
Boxford and Topsfield.
The wide swamps along the river made it impossible to ford the stream anywhere east of Wilmington in colonial times. The only route north out of Boston to the northeast (today called the North Shore) was via the Andover Road, an often muddy track, later made a wagon road which forded the stream just below the confluence of Lubbers and Maple Meadow brooks.
^U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Ipswich River
^"The National Map - National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flow line data". viewer.nationalmap.gov. United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 1 Apr 2011.
^"Ipswich River Watershed". mass.gov. Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 8 Jan 2017.
IpswichRiver is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, United States. It held significant importance in early colonial migrations inland from the...
Ipswich (/ˈɪpswɪtʃ/ ) is a port town and borough in the county of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk and is the largest settlement...
The River Orwell flows through the county of Suffolk in England from Ipswich to Felixstowe. Above Ipswich, the river is known as the River Gipping, but...
The IpswichRiver Wildlife Sanctuary, which is one of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s largest wildlife sanctuaries, is located in Topsfield and Wenham...
mill on the river. There is evidence that the river was used for navigation in the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, but in 1790 the Ipswich and Stowmarket...
university, the University of Suffolk. A dock was in operation in Ipswich on a bend in the River Orwell in the 8th century, and was probably established during...
The Ipswich Mills Historic District encompasses a major textile mill complex and associated worker housing along the IpswichRiver near the center of Ipswich...
the Paul Dudley White Bicycle Path runs on both sides of the river within the Charles River Reservation for bicyclists and runners. Boston is also home...
The Ipswich Docks, Ipswich wet dock and the wet dock, are a series of docks in Port of Ipswich located at a bend of the River Orwell which has been used...
expanded inland significantly. The Commonwealth acquired the Connecticut River Valley settlement of Springfield, which had recently disputed with—and defected...
The City of Ipswich is a local government area in Queensland, Australia, located within the southwest of the Brisbane. Situated between the City of Brisbane...
The Port of Ipswich can be dated to c.625. The name Ipswich was originally Gippeswyc, referring to the River Gyppes with a suffix derived from the Scandinavian...
and the East of England, including Shenfield, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich. Its numerous branches also connect the main line to Southminster...
The Mystic River is a 7.0-mile-long (11.3 km) river in Massachusetts. In the Massachusett language, missi-tuk means "large estuary", alluding to the tidal...
Lot Honey Pot Hoosatonic River Hoosic River Hop Brook Housatonic River Hubbard Brook Hunting Hills Hyannis Ponds IpswichRiver John J. Kelly Joint Base...
Great Britain beginning north of the River Thames, east of the A1 (roads beginning with 1). "Old Stoke Bridge, Ipswich". www.topbond.co.uk. Top Bond. Retrieved...
bridge carrying Route 1A/Route 133 (South Main Street) over the IpswichRiver in Ipswich, Massachusetts. It is one of the oldest surviving bridges in North...
Global Information