John Greenleaf Whittier Home Museum

08/07/2026

The John Greenleaf Whittier Home and Museum will be closed this weekend August 8th and 9th due to the heat advisory. The Tapestry of Voices will be rescheduled in September. To make an appointment for a tour, please email [email protected]. 🌞🌞🌞

08/06/2026

We are thrilled to announce an event we're hosting in October! Join us for a happy hour and a lecture by historian Tad Baker of Salem State to raise funds for the Whittier Home and Museum. Dr. Baker will discuss the Salem Witch Trials, in particular Susannah Martin, who was Whittier's ancestor. Also at this event we'll be drawing three winners of our River Cruise Raffle! Winners get two spots on a summer 2027 cruise on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth. The cruise will include drinks, hors d'ouevres, and conversation with Tad Baker on the history of the Piscataqua region; a one-of-a-kind opportunity! Join us!
Link for event tickets and raffle tickets: https://whittierhome.org/programs/witchtrials/

07/22/2026

Did you get your tickets yet for this Sunday's Abolitionist Voices tour? We're partnering with Historic New England's Coffin House to offer a special tour of the Whittier Home and the Coffin House that will engage visitors in the history of Whittier's abolitionist work. In 1833 he published Justice and Expediency which criticized the Colonization Movement and argued that slavery should be abolished, especially in areas controlled by the US government. Learn about that pamphlet and much more at the tour on Sunday! To attend, purchase tickets at https://my.historicnewengland.org/26703/abolitionist. If you're a member, use code WHITTIER to get $5 off.

07/22/2026

Sunday, July 26, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Coffin House, 14 High Road, Newbury, MA and John Greenleaf Whitter Home, 86 Friend Street, Amesbury MA

07/17/2026

Did you know that the backyard of the Whittier Home & Museum is a beautiful place to visit? After your tour, walk around back to see our grape vine, beautiful flowers, and the exterior of the old summer kitchen that was once attached to the back of the house. We're open tomorrow from 11am to 1pm!

07/14/2026

We're excited to partner with Historic New England's Coffin House to offer a special tour of the Whittier Home and the Coffin House focusing on the abolitionist voices of Whittier and Coffin! Joshua Coffin was Whittier's teacher and strongly influenced his anti-slavery ideas. At the Coffin House, visitors will tour Coffin’s study and home, view his gravesite, and learn about his leadership in the abolitionist movement and his influence as Whittier’s teacher. At the Whittier Home, participants will explore Whittier’s life as a writer, reformer, and prominent voice for the anti-slavery cause. For more information and to get tickets, visit Historic New England's website linked here!

Sunday, July 26, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Coffin House, 14 High Road, Newbury, MA and John Greenleaf Whitter Home, 86 Friend Street, Amesbury MA

07/09/2026

We’re so grateful for everyone who came to our Reading Frederick Douglass Together event last night at Historic New England's Rocky Hill Meeting House! We had a fantastic panel discussion after with Susannah Deily-Swearingen, historian of abolition and the Civil War, and Clare Killian and Woon Chul Fisher, both part of the Amesbury Racial and Social Justice Group. The audience posed thoughtful and intriguing questions, which made for an excellent discussion.

Thank you to Mass Humanities for supporting the program with a grant.

Photos courtesy of Rick Dumont Images.

07/08/2026

Tonight is the night! Join us and Historic New England's Rocky Hill Meeting House for a community reading of Frederick Douglass's speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" It will take place at Rocky Hill Meeting House, 4 Old Portsmouth Road in Amesbury, and will begin at 6PM. After the reading we'll have a panel discussion and Q&A. We expect the event to end at 7:30. This event is FREE. See you there!

07/02/2026

We will be CLOSED on Saturday, July 4 in observance of Independence Day (and because we won’t be able to keep our museum cool enough)! However, we hope you will join us and Historic New England's Rocky Hill Meeting House on Wednesday, July 8 at 6PM for a community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” The reading will be followed by a discussion about the speech’s historical significance and what Douglass’s words might mean to us today. The event will take place at Rocky Hill Meeting House in Amesbury.

06/30/2026

We’re on Instagram! Please follow us to see posts about our collections, programs, and other cool things we’re up to. This is a daguerreotype of John Greenleaf Whittier, described as being taken in Philadelphia in 1844. If the date is correct, which it could be since daguerreotypes became popular in the 1840s, then Whittier would have been about 37 years old. Not exactly the bearded fireside poet you think about!