Lower Green

In 1635, the original English settlers of Newbury, traveling on the Parker River (then called Quascacunquen), landed near what is today known as the Lower Green. They built their first meeting house close by (just northwest of the green, according to Newbury historian Bethany Groff Dorau), and their home lots clustered around this public space. Among the approximately 40 original settlers who were granted lots were Thomas Parker (the town’s first minister), and families of such familiar Newbury names as Noyes, Spencer, Tappan, Kent, Plumer, and Pike. Newbury originally covered 6,000 acres. Wealthy investors like Richard Dummer, John Spencer, and Henry Sewall were granted hundreds of those acres for farming and grazing livestock. Dummer alone had over 1,000 acres.

High Road, just south of the intersection with Newman Road and Cottage Road