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A cemetery with numerous headstones and a grassy landscape. 1
A quiet street lined with colorful houses, a clear sky, and a man walking down the road. 2
A quiet street lined with colorful buildings, a street lamp, and a fire hydrant. 3
A coastal scene with multiple sailboats anchored in calm waters, a lighthouse, and rocky outcrops in the background. 4
A red brick church with a clock tower and a lawn in front. 5

Marblehead Walking Tour Characters of Marblehead's Past

By Marbleheaders: the characters who made history
Free cancellation available
Price is NZ$55 per adult

Features

  • Free cancellation available
  • 1h 30m
  • Mobile voucher
  • Instant confirmation

Overview

Join a born and raised local storyteller for a 90-minute, easy paced walking tour through Old Town Marblehead, where a small group threads together seven storytelling stops drawn entirely from town records and local lore. Along the way, you'll meet a privateer, a witch, a wizard, and the man who reportedly arrived from Salem inside a barrel; stand at Screaming Woman Beach to hear the legend of the captured Spanish ship and the eerie sound the wind makes off the rocks on storm nights; and learn the tale of the 130-foot sea serpent of 1817, the hunting club that pursued it for a century, and the spot where it was last seen. The route passes the Jeremiah Lee Mansion 1768, where George Washington and Lafayette once dined, and ends at the famous “House With No Corner,” whose fate is still contested across three competing legends.

Activity location

  • Marblehead
    • Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • Old Town House
    • 1727 Town House Square
    • 01945, Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States

Check availability

Marblehead Walking Tour Characters of Marblehead's Past

  • Activity duration is 1 hour and 30 minutes1h 30m
    1h 30m
  • English
Language options: English
Starting time: 8:00 PM
Price details
NZ$54.75 x 1 AdultNZ$54.75
Total
Price is NZ$54.75

What's included, what's not

  • What's includedWhat's included
    Marblehead's original cookies: The Joe Frogger

Know before you book

  • Wheelchair accessible
  • Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
  • Service animals allowed
  • Public transport options are available nearby
  • Transport options are wheelchair accessible
  • Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Activity itinerary

Marblehead

  • 10m
Stop 1 — Mugford Street (Pass by, ~10 min) Captain Mugford & the Golden Cod. The street named for one of Marblehead's youngest heroes — a privateer who outsmarted the British Navy and was killed at sea two weeks later. We also tell the storey of the Golden Cod, the gold-leafed wooden fish that became Marblehead's symbol of good health and good hospitality.

Marblehead

  • 15m
Stop 2 — Reds Pond / Old Burial Hill (Stop and explore, ~15 min) Wizard Diamond & Mammy Redd. On the hill where 600 Revolutionary sailors lie buried, two of Marblehead's most famous characters: Edward "Wizard" Diamond, who summoned storms by name, and Wilmot "Mammy" Redd, the village's only victim of the 1692 Salem witch trials. Both stories play out within sight of each other.

Marblehead

  • 10m
Stop 3 — Gas House Beach / Little Harbour (Stop and explore, ~10 min) The man who came in a barrel. This is where Marblehead actually began. John Doliber, sick of Salem's Puritan strictness, reportedly floated across the harbour inside a wooden hogshead barrel and lived in it before settling onto land. We also pause to acknowledge the Algonquin nation, who summered on this coast long before any English ship arrived.

Fort Sewall

  • 10m
Stop 4 — Fort Beach (Pass by, ~10 min) The Sea Serpent of 1817. Off Tinkers Island, just offshore, hundreds of people once watched a 130-foot creature swim past. Fourteen humps, dark brown, a white mouth. The Sea Serpent Hunting Club chased it for over a century. The last reported sighting was off Newfoundland in 1997.

Fort Sewall

  • 15m
Stop 5 — The Barnacle / Screaming Woman Beach (Stop and explore, ~15 min) Pirates, tunnels & a screaming ghost. Marblehead is honeycombed with old pirate tunnels — the basements of historic homes still show their walled-up openings. The caves under nearby Fort Sewall once hid rum, weapons, and fugitives. And it was on this cove that pirates dragged ashore an English noblewoman whose refusal cost her everything. Locals say her screams still ride the wind on stormy nights.

Marblehead

  • 10m
Stop 6 — Washington Street (Pass by, ~10 min) Captain Foster's stolen fortune & the Jeremiah Lee Mansion. At Putnam's Tavern (long gone), locals once traded the storey of Captain Foster — whose Spanish doubloons were swapped for iron in a Salem bank vault. Across the way: the 1768 Jeremiah Lee Mansion, where George Washington, John Hancock, Lafayette, and Elbridge Gerry once dined.

Marblehead

  • 8m
Stop 7 — The Lafayette House (Stop and explore, ~8 min) The House With No Corner. We end at the famous "House With No Corner" — and the corner that isn't there. Three theories: that it was sliced off so General Lafayette's carriage could make the turn in 1824; that it was a shop entrance; or that it had to do with water flow. Nobody actually knows. We'll lay all three out and let you decide.

Location

Activity location

  • LOB_ACTIVITIESLOB_ACTIVITIES
    Marblehead
    • Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States

Meeting/Redemption Point

  • PEOPLEPEOPLE
    Old Town House
    • 1727 Town House Square
    • 01945, Marblehead, Massachusetts, United States

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