Beverly, Massachusetts

Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts. A resort, residential and manufacturing community, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides Crossing. Originally part of Salem and the Naumkeag Territory, the area was first settled in 1626 by Roger Conant.

The first ship commissioned for the US military, by the US Army (the US Navy did not exist), was the armed schooner Hannah. It was outfitted at Glover’s Wharf and first sailed from Beverly Harbor on September 5, 1775. For this reason, Beverly calls itself the “Birthplace of America’s Navy,” a title claimed by other towns, including nearby Marblehead. The Hannah can be found on the patch of the city’s police department.

Beverly has also been called the “birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution,” as the site of the first cotton mill in America (1787) and largest cotton mill of its time.

President William Howard Taft rented a house for the summer White House from Mrs. Maria Evans in Beverly. Beverly Hills, California, was named in 1907 after Beverly Farms in Beverly because Taft vacationed there.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.6 square miles (58.5 km2), of which 15.1 square miles (39.1 km2) is land and 7.5 square miles (19.4 km2) is water. Beverly is located on the North Shore, the name given to communities north of Boston along Massachusetts Bay.