Town History in Video
West Newbury's Cable Advisory Committee and Historical Commission have produced videos about our Town's history. To watch, click on the links below:
Click here to learn from local historian Bethany Groff Dorau about West Newbury's earliest days as the remote western part of Newbury--and how mandatory treks to Sunday church services helped determine the Town's history. Produced by the Cable Advisory Committee.
Click here to learn from local historian Bethany Groff Dorau about Puritan and Indian encounters and relations in West Newbury--it's complicated. Produced by the Cable Advisory Committee..
Click here to learn from local historian Bethany Groff Dorau about Ben Perley Poore, a self-made celebrity and consummate collector at his Indian Hill mansion. Produced by the Cable Advisory Committee.
Click here to learn from Historical Commission Chair Bob Janes about Julian Denegal Steele, a civil rights and affordable housing activist and official who in 1952 became Massachusetts' first Black Town Moderator here in West Newbury. Produced by the Cable Advisory Committee and the Historical Commission.
Click here to learn from Eagle Scout candidate Kade Dennis and Historical Commission member Dot Cavanaugh about the Almshouse Cemetery, a potter's field located on Poorhouse Lane trail. Construction excavators and, as in West Newbury, historians have led the way in rediscovering poorhouse graveyards, recognizing that those who died unclaimed should be remembered as part of the community. Produced by the Historical Commission.