All events are at the CHMM unless otherwise noted. Please check below for details.

Step into wartime Newburyport with Alex Cain as loyalists face persecution, prices soar, and fear hangs heavy as we move to independence.

In 1776, as war raged across the American colonies, the clash of armies echoed far beyond the battlefield into everyday life in Newburyport. Historian and fan favorite Alex Cain invites you to step into a time where loyalists were persecuted, British prisoners were confined, and families struggled with soaring prices, shortages, and the constant shadow of loss from combat. At the same time, privateer prizes poured into the harbor, flooding the port with captured riches and stirring hope of fantastic opportunities. Through hardship and adversity alike, Newburyport pressed on in its determined drive toward independence.

Join us for a special lecture presented by Custom House director James Russell.

John Boyle O’Reilly (1844-1890), famed Irish American poet and activist, was convicted of sedition and sentenced to a penal colony in Australia. He escaped to America in 1869 and was a frequent visitor to Plum Island, using it for an outdoor retreat. O'Reilly is known as an exceptional editor, speaker, and champion of marginalized communities.

Tickets are free for museum members and $10 for non-members.

Join experts from around the world for a one-day symposium on Revolutionary War privateers and Newburyport’s Atlantic impact!

From Newburyport wharves, privateers surged into the Atlantic with a single mission: take the fight to British commerce. Armed with letters of marque, these privately owned vessels disrupted enemy supply lines, seized valuable cargo, and brought home provisions, weapons, and even captured vessels that could be refitted into more privateers to help keep the cause alive.

Privateering was a town-wide enterprise. Merchants financed voyages. Carpenters, ropemakers, and sailmakers outfitted vessels. Mariners signed on for a share of prize money. Women kept households, farms, and businesses running, and stocked stores with goods brought in as prizes. When captures returned to port, they could make fortunes. When privateers were lost, it meant tragedy and ruin.

As we mark the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, join us for a fast-paced, people-centered program that connects Newburyport to the wider Atlantic war and the astonishing records privateers left behind, from logbooks and diaries to prize papers and court documents.

Accessibility note: due to ongoing work on the Firehouse Center for the Arts elevator, the theater is currently accessible only by stairs. If stairs are a barrier, please select the virtual attendance option, Content will be recorded and posted to our website shortly afterward as well.

SYMPOSIUM HIGHLIGHTS - It all starts at 8 a.m.!

Settle in with coffee and light refreshments before opening remarks that frame Newburyport’s privateering story within a wider Atlantic war.

Session 1 (Keynote): Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
Author and historian Eric Jay Dolin opens the day with a brisk, narrative keynote on how privateers—licensed entrepreneurs of war—made tangible strategic impact when the Continental Navy was small and overstretched. Dolin connects policy, profit, and peril to the lived experience of crews, investors, and coastal communities.

Session 2: “The Spirit of Privateering Prevails Here”: Essex County’s Revolutionary War at Sea
Emily Murphy, Ph.D. (Curator, Salem Maritime National Historical Park & Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site) brings Essex County’s wartime waterfront to life—who financed voyages, who shipped out, what came back as prize, and what disappeared at sea. Expect a grounded look at how privateering reshaped local markets, labor, and daily life ashore.

Session 3: Allies and Rivals at Sea: The Continental Navy and Massachusetts Privateers
Abby Schreiber, Ph.D. (Curator, National Museum of the United States Navy) explores the complicated relationship between official naval forces and private enterprise. Where did interests align—and where did they clash? This session follows shipbuilding priorities, supply chains, manpower, discipline, and prize expectations in a fast-moving revolutionary environment.

Midday Custom House Maritime Museum Visit + Lunch (included)
Enjoy lunch with vegan and gluten-free options, plus an integrated visit at the Custom House Maritime Museum that ties objects and archives to the day’s themes.

Session 4: Fast, Light, and Everywhere: New England Boatbuilding and the Geography of Privateering
Michael P. Dyer (former curator at Mystic Seaport Museum and the New Bedford Whaling Museum) shows how New England design, craftsmanship, and coastal knowledge made privateering possible at scale. From hull forms to rig choices, this session explains why certain vessels could strike quickly, evade pursuit, and thrive in Atlantic and coastal waters.

Session 5: Reading Betsey’s Log: Newburyport Privateer Records and the Adventures of Offin Boardman
A rare “close read” of a working maritime document—guided by both seamanship and scholarship. Graham McKay (Executive Director, Lowell’s Boat Shop; boatbuilder, educator, and experienced mariner) and Bethany Groff Dorau (Executive Director, Museum of Old Newbury) use the log of the Newburyport privateer Betsey (National Archives, London) to illuminate a little-known episode in the life of Offin Boardman and reveal what logbooks can tell us about risk, routine, and decision-making at sea.

Session 6: Prizes for All: Finding Newburyport and Neighbors in the Prize Papers, 1776–1783
Amanda Bevan, Ph.D. (Head, Prize Papers Project, The National Archives, UK) takes you inside one of the richest surviving archives of maritime war: captured letters, cargo lists, ship papers, and personal belongings preserved by admiralty courts. Learn how the Prize Papers are being cataloged and opened to researchers—and how Newburyport connections surface in surprising ways across the collection.

Closing remarks
A short wrap-up tying the day’s threads together—archives, vessels, people, and the wider world that Newburyport’s privateers sailed into.

Optional evening event (ticketed separately)

7:00 PM — Tavern Night: A Revolutionary Night at the Tavern
Location: Firehouse Center for the Arts

Songs, stories, and a moving panorama (crankie) celebrate privateering lore with Theater in the Open, The Portermen, theater, and 18th-century tavern tidbits.

This event is funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, and by the generosity of our members, donors, and community foundations. Thank you for your support of the arts, history, and culture.

Newburyport's Offin Boardman carried secret letters for John Adams, who argued court cases in Newburyport. The USS Hancock was built in Newburyport in 1776, and all three families were linked by ties of blood and friendship to this community. Join Nina Sankovitch, author of American Rebels: How the Hancock, Adams, and Quincy Families Fanned the Flames of Revolution to explore the efforts of these leading New England families to foment support for the American Revolution in the decade leading up to the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The fight for independence never would have succeeded if New Englanders, across class lines and from all backgrounds, had not joined the fight. John Hancock, John Adams, Abigail Adams, and Josiah Quincy were instrumental in bringing together disparate groups and igniting a shared ambition for liberty from English oppression. Using words (in speeches and letters) and actions (court cases, acts of civil disobedience, espionage, community outreach), they rallied colonists to betray their King and Parliament as a necessary and God-ordained duty to themselves, their neighbors, and their country. With the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the shared fight became a covenant, and the rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, the promise of independence. On the 250th anniversary of our nation, we celebrate that covenant, that promise, and the men and women who made it all possible.

Nina Sankovitch is an avid historian and voracious reader. She has written five books of non-fiction, including American Rebels: How the Hancock, Adams, And Quincy Fanned the Flames of Revolution, and most recently, Not Your Founding Father; How a Nonbinary Minster Became America’s Most Radical Revolutionary. Sankovitch attended Tufts University and Harvard Law School and now lives in New York City.

The Rear Admiral Richard I. Rybacki Award was established by the Rybacki family to honor his public and community service dedication. It is presented annually to a Station Merrimack River crew member who best exemplifies the spirit of respect, honor, and devotion to duty in service to the U.S. Coast Guard and the community they serve.

Celebrate the individuals who saved historic Newburyport, including the Custom House. Once slated for demolition, the museum celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025.

Join the Custom House on the back lawn for a series of concerts through July and August. Bring your own lawn chairs or blankets. 

In partnership with the Firehouse Center for the Arts.

More details coming soon!

Interested in volunteering at the Custom House? Give us a call, stop by the museum, or email us at info@thechmm.org