Check out my new article about the history of the Salisbury Beach State Reservation in the June 11-17, 2026 edition of the Seacoast Scene.
The state reservation has a long and fascinating history, and I wish I had more than the 700 words the newspaper gave me to tell the full story.
Whatever I had to cut from the article, I included in this blog post, and I also included a list of sources I used to write the story.
I stumbled upon this story idea by accident one day while researching the Great Fire of 1913 at Salisbury Beach for my History of Massachusetts Blog.
While researching the fire, I kept finding all of these old newspaper articles about suspected arson and rumors about people burning down their cottages to prevent land developers from taking them. I was intrigued and wanted to dig deeper.
In doing so, I discovered that’s only a small part of the history of the reservation. The reservation’s history spans four centuries because it was once common land owned by the original settlers, known as the Salisbury Commoners, and was later passed down to their descendants who sold it to some land developers in the 20th century.
Then various institutions and companies started fighting over the land, including the land developers, the military, and the state.
In 1912, the state began seizing land at the beach from the land developers in order to establish the state reservation. This kicked off a legal battle between the land developers and the state. The land developers eventually won because of a technicality about eminent domain.
Then came the legal battles between the land developers and the cottagers, which is a story in itself and involves accusations of arson. You can read more about that in my blog post about the Great Fire of 1913.
Then there’s the United States Army. The military has actually owned some land at Salisbury Beach for centuries, according to land records, and it even built a military fort there during the Revolutionary War, but it didn’t establish its land as an official military reservation until 1917.
It wasn’t until 1931 that the Salisbury Beach State Reservation was finally even established. The price tag for the state reservation was $50,000, of which $35,000 went to land-taking and $15,000 went to land improvement.
In addition, the state also later purchased the entire stretch of Salisbury Beach from the Salisbury Beach Associates for $30,000 in 1933.
Both the public beach and the state reservation are now run by the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
Sources:
“Survey Salisbury Beach.” Amesbury News, 30 Dec. 1887, p. 2.
“New Life Saving Station.” The Boston Globe, 11 Mar. 1897, p. 3.
“Bitter Fight for Salisbury Beach.” The Boston Traveler, 22 Jun. 1901, p. 1.
“The Salisbury Commoners.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 5 Jun. 1913, p. 1.
“Salisbury Beach Military Post.” Newburyport Daily News, 27 Oct. 1917, p. 6.
“Revolutionary War Fort Site in Salisbury Sold.” Newburyport Daily News, 24 May. 1933, p. 1.
“Army Offers Two Lots in Salisbury For Sale.” The Boston Globe, 3 Feb. 1932, p. 10.
“Parks, Recreation Areas in State Forests Opened.” Springfield Republican, 1 Jun. 1944, p. 14.
“Fear Boost In Land Rentals.” Newburyport Daily News, 6 Apr. 1911, p. 4.
“Beach Bill Not In the Interest of the People.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 15 May. 1912, p. 1.
“Beach Bill Has Kicked Up Row in Legislature.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 22 May. 1912, p. 1.
“Governor Signs Salisbury Beach Reservation Bill.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 5 Jun. 1912, p. 1.
“Reject All the Amendments to the Beach Bill.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 18 May. 1912, p. 1.
“Salisbury Beach Act Invalid.” The Boston Transcript, 21 Jun. 1913, p. 4.
“Salisbury Beach Decision in Full.” Newburyport Morning Herald, 10 May. 1912, p. 1.
“Claims Section of Salisbury Beach.” The Boston Post, 5 Jun. 1914, p. 3.
“Urged that Salisbury Beach Be Made State Reservation.” Beverly Evening Times, 2 Apr. 1931, p. 1.
“Salisbury Beach State Reservation.” The Boston Globe, 6 Jan. 1931, p. 7.
“Full Text of the Bill Signed by Gov. Ely for Salisbury Beach Reservation.” Amesbury Daily News, 12 Jun. 1931, p. 1.
“Governor Signs Bill For State Reservation.” Newburyport Daily News, 11 Jun. 1931, p. 1.
“Propose $50,000 Reservation for Salisbury Beach.” Newburyport Daily News, 2 Apr. 1931, p. 1.
“Army to Sell Their Holdings in Salisbury.” Amesbury Daily News, 3 Feb. 1932, p. 1.
“Fishermen protest restricted zone off Plum Island, Salisbury.” The Boston Globe, 5 Aug. 1945, p. 20.
“Revolutionary War Fort Site in Salisbury Sold.” Newburyport Daily News, 24 May. 1933, p. 1.
“Beach at Salisbury Purchased by State.” The Boston Globe, 13 Jun 1933, p. 13.
“State to Purchase Salisbury Beach.” The Boston Record, 14 Jun. 1933, p. 5.
“Heyday of Trolley Car era at Salisbury Beach Theme of Historian Dick Cummings.” Newburyport Daily News, 13 Jul. 1950, p. 14.