Her Words Echo Through The Ages . . . 

“Make use of what I leave in love”
​by Anne Dudley Bradstreet

Thank you so much for inspiring your child
to join in this new poetic project for
the students of North Andover

Staircase Poetry
is a yearly
spoken – word event
for elementary students in the same way
the North Andover High School Chorus
celebrates music and voice

Please have your child to the Smolak Farm Barn
on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 5:30PM

Siblings, grandparents and friends are all welcome
Come join in the fun
in the Valley of the Poets

The program begins at 6PM and runs for 30 to 45 minutes.

August 15, 2007

A way to remember America’s first poet

NORTH ANDOVER – Anne Bradstreet lived, wrote and died in North Andover, but the only memorial to her is a marker in the town’s Old Burying Ground.

Local poet Karen M. Kline hopes to gain attention for Bradstreet, referred to as America’s first published poet, by building a brick walkway and dedicating it to the poet. The walkway would run from the Old Burying Ground down Academy Road to the Old Center.

“Right now, until she has a place of honor somewhere in this town where she lived and died, I’m on a poetic path to honor the original poet laureate in our town,” said Kline, who plans to talk about her idea at an upcoming selectmen’s meeting.

Kline said the walkway also would be a safety measure because many students walk on Academy Road from the middle school to the youth center in the Old Center.

Bradstreet came to America from England in 1630 and lived in Cambridge and Ipswich before coming to North Andover, then known as Andover Parish, in 1645. She resided here in the Valley of the Poets until her death in 1672.

One book of her poetry, “The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America,” was published in London without her knowledge when her brother-in-law traveled to England in 1650. A second edition, with her corrections, was published in Boston in 1678 after her death.

Bradstreet scholars said it is about time something is created to honor the poet.

“She is not unheralded, but she is relatively obscure. More people have heard of Emily Dickinson,” said Jeannine Hensley  of Hanover, who edited an edition of Bradstreet’s poems in 1967.

Hensley said that although Bradstreet is becoming more popular in high schools and colleges, it is rare to find any physical reminders of her life here. The house where she lived in Cambridge before she came to North Andover no longer exists and the house where she spent most of her time in North Andover burned down six years before her death. 

Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope

Nancy discussed the life and words of Mistress Bradstreet, a founding mother of Andover Parish and America’s first published poet in 1650.  She told the audience that in 1995, she had heard Anne’s poems read and had no idea of the poet or her lovely poems written so long ago.  Even with a major in literature, Anne was a complete surprise to her.

The quiet passion with which Nancy spoke of “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” demonstrated  Anne’s deep devotion to Simon as his wife since they wed back in Lincolnshire, England in 1628.

That Sunday afternoon in Spring changed my life completely as I meet two of the most cultured, gentle women ever.

Nancy, I must thank you for sharing your love of Anne with the world and with me.

Now, here is a brief overview of your very successful life of 92 years . . .

Nancy Virginia Weare of Exeter, formerly of Newburyport, Boston and Ipswich passed away peacefully at RiverWoods in Exeter, New Hampshire on December 12th at the age of 92.

She was born at home on Ashland St. in Newburyport, the daughter of Laurence Weare and Helen Rodigrass Weare.

An only child, Nancy graduated from Newburyport High School, Class of 1943. She went on to earn a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts at the Massachusetts College of Art and spent 20 years as an art editor for Ginn and Company in Boston.

She received a Masters Degree in Special Education and then taught at the Brown School in Newburyport for 17 years.

After retirement Nancy decided to write “Plum Island, The Way It Was”, about her favorite place in the whole world, her family’s summer camp at the Knobbs.   She enjoyed sailing, swimming and teaching her dog Nicki to dig for clams. Her fondest and most vivid memories were created on this special place, Plum Island.

The Federal Government reclaimed the land when Nancy’s Mother passed on and she was able to find a home on Great Neck in Ipswich overlooking her beloved Island, where she lived for 33 years.

She took it upon herself to edit and publish a second book on American’s First Poet, Anne Dudley Bradstreet after hearing a presentation about her life and enjoying some of her poetry recited at Stevens Memorial Library, North Andover, in 1995.  Nancy had never known of Mistress Bradstreet during her school years and believed this Puritan woman deserved much more recognition.

Jill Barker, librarian at Stevens Memorial Library, recalls;  “Nancy, who compiled and published the chapbook, Anne Bradstreet: America’s First Poet, was an ardent champion of Anne and her poetry.”

A memory of former North Andover Poet Laureate, Karen M. Kline;  “Anne Dudley Bradstreet was a woman admired by Nancy, who understood both the difficulties of Anne’s life and her amazing poetic talent, ignored by too many.”

As an author, Nancy was often invited to speak at meetings of local organizations and libraries in MA and NH.

Nancy enjoyed traveling, especially to Ireland, which she visited five times.

She was a member of many organizations, including

The Ipswich Historical Society
The Museum of Old Newbury
The Maritime Museum
The Sons and Daughters of Old Newbury
The Friends of Plum Island Light
The Museum of Fine Arts
The Peabody Essex Museum
The Whittier Home Museum
The Friends of Anne Bradstreet
The Belleville Improvement Society
The Red Hat Society

She was a descendant of Susannah Martin, one of the accused Salem Witches (1692).

A devoted animal lover, Nancy rescued many dogs and cats over the years, including Liza, Ringo, Sugar Van Fleet and Murphy Brown, a white German Shepard who found her Ipswich home a safe haven in a snowstorm.  Charlie Brown and Trevor, the Beagles, enjoyed living with her at RiverWoods where they received lots of love from other residents.

She leaves her second cousin, Sally (Blake) Lavery, also of RiverWoods, plus many, many friends and fans.

Family Reunion  By Carole Davis

My family had a reunion today.
Odd décor.
surrounded by peaches so large they are a whole meal.
Tomatoes, fresh from the ground, summer sweet,
yearning for a final sprig of basil and soft cheese.
Corn, sun yellow, wearing a silky, green cloak, dressed
for August heat.
Local eggs so perfect the bacon is cooking
before they leave the market.

We are not  blood relatives.
Love is often easier with strangers.
workers at a local market who have greeted me for decades
items requested, bags packed, dollars exchanged.
Odd beginning for a love affair,
but it happened by the thousands.

Family disputes
almost killed the magic.
Sides were taken,
the market and love won out.
In between all those shelves filled with sugar and flour
were grains of resolve, barrels of loyalty so strong,
that even the cleaver of a butcher’s knife
could not pierce.