Publisher’s Comments

Originally published July, 1980

When in the course of magazine events it becomes possible to lower the price … do it! In the changing of printers, and typesetters, we have been able to reduce our costs by about 20 percent and we are cutting our cover price accordingly. Subscriptions will get an even better deal.

Advertising response and advance subscriptions have done it!

To those beautiful Marbleheaders who are “charter subscribers” we are extending in-town subscriptions by a full year. Those of you reading this and thinking about subcribing, we will try to entice you with a new subscription rate of only $9.00 a year, and a chance to get our newest poster for only an additional $1.50. (It will sell for $3.00.)

This magazine is for you. We hope you will buy this issue, and subscribe. Every little bit will help to ensure Marblehead Magazine’s continued success.

In this isue, we are presenting the second in a series of articles by Carin Gordon, native Marbleheader, on The First Families. The initial installment got quite a response from man of you, and perhaps a word here will help to put the series in perspective. We are tying to recapture, in some ways, the only spirit of Marblehead from downtown to uptown and past the “four.” There is talk in the air about parking garages and fast food chains, and tearing down schools, and closing schools, and condominiums, and what have you. In many ways Marblehead is no different from so many other towns fighting urban sprawl and the lost values gobbled up in commuting miles to work each day. Marbelhead Magazine says, though, that Marblehead IS different in at least one wa: not the harbor, not Abbot Hall, not Fort Sewall (though these are definitely, absolutely unique), but it’s the legend that lives here like a lingering ghost. The legend that says Marblehead is great!Not just good,not merely quaint, but great! So great that the men of Glover’s Regiment made the United States a better place to live it, so great that we had a signer of the Constitution elected Vice President from here, so great that Marblehead is the finest little town in the world! (At least that’s the way legend has it.)

This time, after sixteen interviews, and two months of research in dusty old libraries, our stalwart reporter has written what we think is an interesting and informative article about one of the orginal families to settle Marbelhead (some say the Peaches sold the adolibers their land). And we think it’s an important story: which is why it comes first in this issue.

Also, our Summer 1980 issue presents articles about the Arts Festival (with a look at the hole in their pockets), a map and a suggested walking course to viewing exhibit, a dissenting look at the closing of some neighborhood school, stories on Black Joe, resort of old, summer theater in Marblehead, Kid’s Eye View, Eben Weed, and of course the Crossword Puzzle (no one completed the first one as far as we can tell!). Also included are many great photos by our staff photographers plus special photo spreads by John Fogle and Polly Brown.

We think this is a cracker-jack issue for the summer. We hope you’ll enjoy it, tell your firends about it, and that you’ll mention the magazine when you shop around town.

There’s a lot more to say but I think I’d better get busy on the Fall Issue (pssst! … it’s gala once-a-year look – pictures, pictures, pictures – at yachting in Marblehead! Deadline is July 4th.)

Many thanks for your warm encouragement and your enthusiastic reception of our first issue. Keep writing to us, keeping calling, because it takes a lot of talent to make Marblehead Magazine.

Originally published: February, 1980

A magazine can be a reservoir. This magazine will be a reservoir for the legend of Marblehead. And not only the history of the Town, but also the unfolding of Marblehead’s continuing story.

There is a legend in this Town. It is one that is felt after only a few moments here, and one that lingers for a lifetime. It is a good one. Rich in human spirit, it’s full of the right stuff of our time, and of the times which precede us. Marblehead’s legend is a subject worthy of inquiry, with plenty of substance to satisfy our curiosity and industrious inclinations.

Some have said that the legend of Marblehead is dead, gone down before shopping plazas and condominiums; lost inside an old faded post office building, or a grammar school; polluted in an over-stuffed harbor. But I say, no. The legend of Marblehead is alive and well, still giving birth to rich history, and a challenging contemporary scene. We need to look harder. We need to look closer.

To that idea this magazine is completely dedicated.

With this issue, we begin. In planning for the past two years – sometimes it more like dreaming – a plan developed that called for four issues, published irregularly. May, July, September and November seem like good times to publish. Mid-winter will present an opportunity to regroup, consult with you, our readers, and plan for the second year.

The concrete planning of articles for this and all issues will, hopefully, surprise you – first beause of the originality and energy that will go into them, and second, because of the insights the articles and essays will offer. The insights are not the products of our collecgtive philosophy or sagacity, but rather insights offered by Marblehead itself. In its scenery, its people, its government, its problems, and its triumphs: in these you will see what this town and the dynamic people in it, are all about.

Your help is needed. As readers you support our efforts. and our independence, with you newsstand purchases and subscriptions. (Advertisers support our efforts with creative ads that fit, not just in the magazine, but also that suit this unique town.) Together, all of us generate the energy of Marblehead Magazine. It will be ample.

So, we pursue the goal of compiling the finest editorial product about Marblehead every published here, and utilizing that excellence to recapture and reclaim the legend, the spirit, the feeling, if you will, that has been part of this town as long as anyone can remember. We know this spirit is not gone. But we hope to apply a little elbow grease, get it shining brightly again, and then put it our where all can see it, and enjoy it.

We hope that this magazine is special for you, and that in reading it you realize that, truly, you are part of the legend. The most important part.