Thank you for watching! Please don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video and want to see more content like this. A few notes: I have done my best to ensure the accuracy of this video, however there are bound to be mistakes. For example, clipper ships were actually used for crossing the oceans and for privateering. Not for coastal trade only. If anyone watching this is from Newburyport, hello! It is very possible that you have alternative opinions to what I've presented here. My knowledge of the events in the town's past are limited to my research, I'm not the foremost expert on the town. Finally, this is only the first time I've edited a video or filmed with a gimble... I apologize for any jank. Thanks for watching and stay tuned!
I grew up in Hyde Park thru 60s/70s. Proud of my Boston city and heritage. I would love to move back, but housing and taxes are near prohibited. During busing our house sold for $40K, and now worth $1million, and it's a very small home. This past autumn I had to illegally park in the North End to grab a Regina's Pizza and luckily did not get a ticket.😄 I really miss New England, the architecture, culture, museums, FOOD, and wicked humorous sarcasm... that gets me in trouble anywhere outside of New England. Ho Hum!
I love Regina's, but I usually arrive by train and foot so the biggest problem I have is not missing my train back home. 11 1/2 Thatcher Street is somewhere in that big small town that is welcoming, in the only way that real Boston knows how... Through brutal honesty and making fun of almost every customer. The housing costs are a very serious issue and is something that the region/world at large is struggling to fix.
Great video, I especially enjoyed the old footage of events around Newburyport. Next video I'd include a map with the location of some of the points of interest, otherwise it's fantastic.
Glad you liked it! I promise to link the entire old doc, totally worth a look, just a little boring later on. Yeah, maps almost happened. I had limited time to finish the video and honestly forgot, while also struggling with where to fit it in. I would've mapped the station and TOD. I have the entire map of this place memorized, easy to forget not everyone else does😂
I grew up in Newbury in the 60s and 70s. My grandmother lived on Court St. in Newburyport. I live in Oregon now and get back to Newburyport several times every year. My biggest disappointment is what has become of Fowles. Here s a business space that was modernized in the early 20th century in classic Art Deco, I really wish it could be restored to what it was in the 1960's.
Urban “renewal” destroyed my city of Dublin. Newburyport is an example of how to do things correctly though it sounds that only happened because the citizens spoke up! I live in Massachusetts now and there are dozens of charming old towns here.
Great first video. It's simple but well researched and interesting. As someone from a small Midwestern town not too far from Chuck Marohn's hometown, small towns don't get enough attention in discussions about urban planning or transit. It's important to know that small towns don't have to rely on cars to get around. They can just as easy have a small bus system or train station as any large city like Philadelphia or Boston. I look forward to the content you plan to make. Subscribed.
Coming from southern New Hampshire, this stuff is so damn near and dear to my heart. All over New England, you can still find little vestiges of this kind of development, and unsurprisingly, they are where people want to go. I went to school at UNH in Durham, NH, and people always took the bus to downtown Portsmouth because it's just a nice place to be. No one worried about parking; there aren't 5-lane 45mph roads to worry about crossing; there are loads of shops and restraurants all within walking distance--and there's a good amount of housing, too (not enough, of course, but they're building more). It's a lively, lovely place. However, that urban style is restricted to the coast; people love it, but then seem to think it's restricted chronologically, too--to the past. Then you try to have discussions with them about building like that again, everywhere, and the first question--almost without fail--is "what do I do with my car". It's just...it's car-brained. We have the phrase for a reason, and it's just completely confounding to me. (Of course, this doesn't touch on the by-now-well-known paradox that it's now illegal to build this way in most places, because if it was legal, then you wouldn't need a car, and well, we can't have that....) I moved to a suburb of the other Portland--Oregon--almost two years ago. Downtown Beaverton feels kind of similar to these (much) older New England towns because it's relatively dense and walkable in some places, and people flock to downtown from the surrounding suburbs because there's so much to do here; shops, restaurants, bars. It's all great! However, unlike these New England towns, the car has a more solid history of successfully demolition on the West Coast, so there's little housing downtown, and the same mindset seems to pervade here. People love the downtown, but worry about traffic being a problem if more people lived downtown. It makes me just want to walk around aimlessly, shouting at the top of my lungs, "you don't need to own a car!"--or at least, you shouldn't if you don't want to. There's been so much of every kind of damage done to America's cities over the past century by the car; I just wish I felt I could have more faith it's going to change.
This comment deserves a longer response, however, I have no time at the moment. I grew up in Durham, and used to work in Portsmouth! Both towns were a huge influence on the way I look at towns and places. Someday I want to do videos about both. And with the no faith in change, the only way anything changes is if we fight like hell for it. We need to organize ourselves and fight for better places live. It will happen if we take action.
@@TheRuralUrbanist It's just incredibly frustrating to try pussyfooting your way around a conversation, when what the other person needs to hear is "we are all part of the problem; our behavior needs to change, and we need to accept a somewhat greater level of inconveniencing so as to not doom the world." Lots of self-proclaimed very liberal people buy bigger cars than they need to (which we say is a matter of "personal choice", enviro-social consequences be damned), and can conceive of nothing but the present situation continuing, even when you point out to them that it can't, and so fight against attempts to change it (in this case, reducing parking, building more densely, using transit, etc.)
@@aquaticko yeah, I really get frustrated with personal responsibility arguments, as you mentioned. Of course we should all drive less, but we can't always rely on the individual to do this. Systems should be designed to the maximum with the goal of not allowing people to make mistakes. If we want walkable downtowns, slow down traffic with calming and one way roads or even pedestrian zones. Give people a bypass or something so they don't need to drive through the core. I find that in convincing people, the idea is to be as genuine as possible from the beginning. I'm direct about what I believe but sometimes in conversation you need to show that you're listening to what they've got to say. Most people will drop hints about how they can be convinced. People will say that they love all these cute downtown shops and how easy it is to walk around, but they complain about the lack of parking. You can walk them from that point to show that if all we had downtown was parking, then there would be no shops left to visit. Everything would be a lot. I've talked with so many people about what I believe and the best way I've found to convince is not to approach it as debate or argument. Don't know if that made and sense 😂. Just my opinions.
Amazing video history, anti-car, and pro pedestrian! What more could you want! I have worked and always lived in Newburyport and I learned a lot from your video!
My grandparents bought their home in Newburyport in 1929, and I was the 3rd generation owner and lived there all my life until 7 years ago. Newburyport always had a special magic and I will always treasure and feel so blessed to have been fortunate enough to grow up there. I don't like getting older, but it makes me happy that I remember Newburyport the way it was before urban renewal!
From a European perspective, it's important not to overdo the "conservation" part, freezing the downtown in time, making it nothing more than a museum for tourists. A town should be kept practical and livable, so that people feel comfortable in it. There's nothing wrong, for example, with a few modern colorful signs for the shops, as long as they're tasteful.
Yeah, that was one of the points I was trying to make but I'm not sure if it came across. It's also really important for me, because our best towns are at risk of becoming museums. My next video will be from Germany and I understand the importance of a livable downtown, not just a pretty one. Newburyport took the first step and has struggled to get past that point.
It depends what you are conserving and how. There is no dichotomy between a town centre being well preserved and an attraction to tourists and being a good town centre. I'd actually go so far as to argue to a large degree in the modern age there's no distinction at all really. Conserving the buildings is pretty damn important for both. People (at least older people in the UK) have clung onto the idea of town centres as they were largely because of nostalgia and not understanding the world today and how town centres of old are over and never coming back. But ultimately if you live outside the town centre and do not work in it with the advent of out of town big box retail and the internet you never *have* to go to a town centre in a way you absolutely would have had to do 25+ years ago. Ultimately town centres have to be places people *want* to go. Locals have to be tourists of a sort. You have to make them pleasant to be in and full of stuff that can't be fulfilled online or in big box retail. This goes double in small towns where they can just be hollowed out and filled with empty shops in a way that's not really ever going to happen in bigger cities. More office and work space and residential use, transport hubs in town centres will bring people in and keep them and the local economy more active but in the end you just need people to choose to go to them
Being from Newburyport, your concerns do not obtain. It's very, very livable, has plenty of amenities, etc. Newburyport has a small industrial park, for one thing. Secondly, the city is only several square miles and all are used. In this particular case, you really have to go there and live there for a few months to truly understand - believe me, one need not be concerned about what you raise. Mostly because Newburyport IS a tourist trap and is a major day trip destination. Thar's money in them there pockets. And Newburyport delivers with boutiques, restaurants, entertainment and nightlife.
@@patriot9487 When you can tell me why the construction "objectively ugly" is, essentially, a contradiction in terms, then I'll heed your aesthetic sensibilities.
In a small rural community in California and just trying to start a strong towns movement here! These videos are gonna be invaluable in meetings and other ways.
Newburyport didn't really start coming back until the 80s. In the 50s and 60s all those brickwork buildings downtown were empty and trashed but they fixed up nice. Not bulldozed.
Our greatest High School rival was, is and will always be Newburyport. Amesbury/Newburyport, while rivals, are as well fully aware of each other's history and importance. My Mother was born and raised in Newburyport. At age 59 I currently reside across the harbor in Salisbury. All surrounding towns, be they High School rivals or simply abutted neighbors, are very aware of how lucky they are to have an amazing town like Newburyport at their beckoning call. Thank you for sharing a bit about our friends in Newburyport.
Congrats on such a high quality first video! Sharing examples of healthy and strong communities that aren’t a parking lot hellscapes is very comforting. Let’s bring back streetcars next??
Fantastic first video! I live in neighboring Lowell and see a lot of similarities to the story of Newburyport. Lowell went through an era of rising interest in preservation through the creation of Lowell National Historical Park in the 1970s. We also have a somewhat isolated commuter rail line that used to be incredibly difficult to walk to from downtown. However, all of that is changing with new transit oriented development, paths and bus lanes connecting the station to downtown. Now if only our seasonal museum trolley could be turned into real transit!
The fact that the highway stops outside of the city, rather than making a path of destruction through the center of it that destroys the character and splits up the neighborhoods of the city is huge. I agree that the train station is not very accessible, and the bus system could be more reliable, but the historical character remains and the city is pretty walkable, while being more affordable than a lot of eastern mass
Salem, MA would be a great follow up to this, the urban density, vibrant and colorful neighborhoods, a lot of parks, a university and a lively downtown. It has plenty of issues to with traffic and unfriendly bike lanes but like you said the bones are there.
My wife and I love Salem, but we haven't been there enough and have never been in the Summer. It's on my list for the future! My next video is actually going to be from Europe... Stay tuned!
I never comment on videos but I'm so glad to be seeing someone doing work around New England urbanism, especially in smaller communities - I'm a recent urban planning grad, and it's a topic that I care a lot about, so kudos
When I chose to raise my kids in a similar Massachusetts town, I didn't fully understand the advantages. Now that everyone is grown up and scattered, I do - and I realize they had one of the best childhoods / teen years possible.
This brings back a lot of memories as I worked on restoring several houses in Newburyport about 1972 as a 16 year old laborer. it was a bit of a commute from my hometown of Beverly but I am now glad that I have had that experience.
lived in newburyport for seven very good years. hell of a place to be a young man. beach at your door, 2 hours to the mountains, 45 mins from the city if there's no traffic, and the downtown area has something for everyone. charming little place without feeling small or removed.
Very good video, the one suggestion I have is you pause a bit too long on commas (just in my opinion). Like at 10:00 "Modern suburban development has bankrupted ... so many once beautiful towns and places." That could flow a bit better. Overall your cadence is pretty good.
Yeah, I feel that. Some of those pauses have several hours of days between them and had to be put together manually. I wish I'd used that software where you can auto remove gaps... Next time.
Fun fact: HP Lovecraft's the Shadow over Innsmouth was based on Newburyport. The spooky rural coastal town vibe in the story is so different from the vibrant historic downtown of today.
Great video! I am a North Shore resident and have always known Newburyport as one of the most beautiful places in the state. So interesting to see the footage from the ‘60s and hear your point that there really isn’t anything historically unique about the planning of the city. Such a great case study!
I’m impressed that tiny Newburyport began its conservation efforts so soon after the demolition of Pennsylvania Station and a good decade before America’s bicentennial celebration sparked the first nationwide efforts at urban conservation.
What a great video. I moved to mass 3 years ago and my partner took me to Newbury port. Did not know this little seaside town had this much history and that urban renewal reached that far out of Boston.
Unfortunately, urban renewal touched almost every corner of America. When people say that America isn't walkable or that we don't have any new buildings, it's largely because of the destruction of old downtowns. I post a link in my description to the original documentary, please go check it out! So much that I couldn't cover.
As a budding urbanist from rural New Hampshire, this is a very relevant and encouraging video. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing whatever you cover in the future!
Great video! I've been in the Newburyport area my whole life - nice to add some pictures to the history in my head. Small tip: local libraries often have archive about their town with lots of interesting and high quality pictures and maps (and usually a scanner too!) - at least I know the Newburyport Public Library does. Subscribed and good luck!
Good video, I lived in Newburyport for 10 years late 70s forward. It is a great place and community. I still miss it. We lived in the downtown area, and used to walk and bike everywhere. I still take our boat up the Merrimac and tie up to the town dock for a visit when you can get a space. I hope they keep all this in mind with their expansion.
This video is a fantastic build on the work other channels are doing to highlight issues of development, human-centered rather than car-centered design, and the financial prosperity of local communities. Well done and I look forward to more videos.
Great video. As a resident of nearby Gloucester MA, this serves as an interesting perspective as to what other neighboring and historic cities could become. Thank you!
Great vid, I'm a lifelong New Englander and I appreciate the attention you put in the video. Another town of interest might be Beverly, as its currently In the middle of what's going to be a long urban renewal process. We still do have "good bones" as you mentioned, the rail connection is downtown and we have redeveloped many of our downtown parking lots have been developed into dense housing.
TH-cam showed me the Farms video. I haven't watched it - but your channel name caught my attention and I followed the link to this video. So far, this is the only video of yours that I've watched - but I keep thinking about it - so I came back to leave a LONG comment. 🙂 I have been openly concerned about sprawl and car-centered development for over a quarter of a century - and through Strong Towns and many TH-cam "urbanist" videos, I've kind of come back to it. Listening to Jeff Speck on the Strong Towns podcast, I kind of feel like I've come full circle. At any rate, what I came back to say is that I'm eager to see you continue to develop your channel. So many of the "urbanist" channels on TH-cam are about ... well ... cities. I live in a fairly urban area (although my wife and kids deny it) - and while Rochester NY is not really a BIG city, it's certainly not a small town. As far as street-frontage goes, our neighborhood is as dense as many neighborhoods in Rochester proper. In the past few years, especially as I've done more of my work online, I've been captivated by the idea of a "small town with a main street". New York State has a few that really appeal to me. My wife and I have had some discussions about the difference between a "small town" and a "suburb/exurb." Lately, we've been exploring the limits of this distinction -- mostly because I've started working at the fringe of what I would consider "the Rochester area." As we become empty nesters, we find ourselves contemplating a move which would put us closer to both of our day jobs -- and I find we have a few options. We like where we live now, even though "walkable" here means mostly "to a strip mall" - but the commute is a bit too much, and we're thinking we could find some value in a different neighborhood. I'm looking at one neighborhood in Rochester proper (where the attitude is often that decent people don't live in "the city"), a very "suburban" neighborhood between our two workplaces, or one of the small towns on the outskirts. We're kind of going through the things in our life and wondering what we would miss if we moved to a "small town." Occasionally, small towns come up in Strong Towns -- but I don't hear a lot about them anywhere else - or even there -- so I'm really drawn to what you've started here. Well, now that I've written this much - I suppose I should subscribe. 🙂
Excellent video, I worked as a photographer at the Daily News for 32 years, finally retiring in 2019. I have 10's of thousands of photographs of the Newburyort area. and hundreds from before and during Urban Renewal. Feel free to reach out if I can help you in any future projects. I live in east Kansas, but still have lots of contacts in the area.
I'm glad that you enjoyed it! Next video should be coming soon, and unfortunately not about Newburyport, but I do plan to revisit it in the future. I would love to see some of your photos/work if you have the time! I may also do a Portsmouth video in the future, if you ever shot up there!
@@TheRuralUrbanist I don't. The story or Urban Renewal in Newburyport isn't over, there is still a big fight over the waterfront, whether or not the NRA lots will ever be developed.
Great video! I really like the footage, both archival and what was shot by you. My only advice would be regarding the audio, it’s pretty clean but could be cleaner. You can try snipping the high-ends to remove the mic hiss that can be heard at moments, and easing your voice clips in and out to make for smoother transition from the moments of silence. Adding a very subtle room tone throughout the video could help with these two things too. Again, great video, I look forward to the next one
Nice job on your first video! It is a great follow up to the A Measure of Change documentary. I am very fortunate as I live and work in Newburyport. I can walk to both the downtown and commuter rail. At one time the city was going to have a shuttle from the commuter rail to downtown but that never was established. It is about a 15-20 minute walk to the downtown from the commuter rail station, either through the neighborhood or on the Clipper City Rail Trail that is almost finished. I believe my husband's family came here in the late 1800s so they have seen it all!
*Earliest settler communities Excellent video, I really like the idea of looking at smaller towns instead of the focus on purely larger cities. I've often wondered how car dominance could be reduced in smaller and more rural communities. I'm looking forward to future videos.
wow, what a wonderful video!! it is genuinely inspiring to see how beautiful small towns can be. the part near the end about cars being the reason you dont know your neighbors really spoke to me
Hey, I'm really happy that you enjoyed it! I think if we can all learn to see the beauty in places like this, we stand a better chance at a good future!
As somebody who’s lived in Newbury (right next to Newburyport) for over 12 years and who spends a lot of time downtown, I love this video. I already knew a lot of the history from my very short time as a volunteer at The Custom House Maritime Museum (didn’t know about Newburyport being the first town to use urban renewal money for pedestrian infrastructure though). Nevertheless, it is very awesome to see more attention being brought to one of my favorite towns. And yeah the location of the commuter rail stops sucks, it’s way too far and not connected at all to downtown. Still is a very reliable and easy way to get to Boston (although a bit pricey). Far better than driving through Boston’s maze of streets (love the character, but makes things so confusing)
I was staying with my older cousin on Middle Road and easily walked from there to the T station, up the trail to Gillis and along the waterfront to beyond the Coast Guard station and back to Middle Road.
This is great! I grew up in Newburyport, so it's a bit surreal to see a TH-cam video on it (my sister's dog makes a cameo actually). When urban planning TH-cam became more popular I thought it'd would a great example for what American towns/cities can be. Glad to see someone else thought the same.
Good content. Plus your calm and clear way of speaking makes it easier and interesting to follow. Please make more quality videos on urban planning in small towns and rural areas. As far as I know most of the urban planning case study related videos limited to big city examples.
A wonderful video on my hometown. Growing up there I remember the struggles to keep the brick buildings. So happy that urban renewal saved the downtown. Elsewhere in the town are the gorgeous Federal homes on High Street and our incomparable Newburyport High School. Best wishes on your next videos!!
I grew up in Newbury/Newburyport in the 40s and 50s. Graduated from Newburyport High School in 1960. I left for college and never came back except to visit family. I heard a lot about the urban renewal issues second hand. I love the way Newburyport looks now, but it breaks my heart that many of my old friends can't afford to live there anymore. Fifty years ago, my husband and I moved to a small town in Texas than was just on the cusp of a population boom, It's taken a while, but some very wise administrators have protected and developed the downtown area which, like Newburyport, had beautiful brick buildings. They have been protected. A downtown park has become a gathering sport for concerts, weddings, and festivals. A light rail system was added a number of years ago which enables people to get to Dallas easily. Now some of the old buildings, along with new ones which blend in nicely with the old, are becoming storefronts and restaurants below, with apartments above. It will never be Newburyport, but there have been lessons learned that probably benefit towns all over the USA.
The not knowing your neighbor thing hits a little bit too close to home I’ve gone for hundreds of walks/runs through my town and I’ve only met a few people None of my neighbors even know who I am so if I’m lucky enough to see someone I’ll probably get stink eyed I don’t want to talk your ear off but I just want to say that it’s made me so depressed living in this kind of community I don’t know if I can make it another year I’ve learnt I’m a weird person, I need exercise hikes and human interaction to function and be happy and going so much of my life without enough of that has been hard I need to take a break from thinking about this it’s getting me depressed
Hey, I know that it's tough. I've felt exactly how you're feeling, and it will be ok. It's not weird to want honest human interaction! It is, in fact, incredibly normal and vitally important to be around other people sometimes. Even if the community you are in does not have this, you can always try to find one that offers this. I hope that this helps, it's not easy, but there is a future where people can live in communities. Where we don't have to feel guilty for wanting connection.
@@TheRuralUrbanist thinks! I was getting all depressed for a minute but I’m feeling better One day I’ll move somewhere where I can fit in better and meet people, even though I haven’t lived here that long it feels like it’s been an eternity Also great video!
id love to see a video about small towns in the midst of larger urban areas and how they can resist car dependent suburbanization and ultimately a destruction of their community. over several decades this happened to a town close to my own, and we are all afraid it will happen to us next when the other town is filled up…only to then be left to decay as the “ball” of newer development is kicked down the road.
Great video expect you forgot that the trail distroy the city . Allowing big city people to turn it into little Nantucket . Running out the people that saved it. Ps I was born and lived there until 2009. The town was originally Newbury and the first settles can set you straight.
This video hit the nail on the head in terms of the dearth of usable public transit and car dependency in town. I live right by the core of downtown, but I still rely on a car to go grocery shopping or run other errands. I could take my bike or walk, but (relatively) safe biking and walking infrastructure only goes up to Storey Ave. Sheltered bike lanes either on High Street or Low Street would help ease this issue.
If your looking for more New England towns to look at I live grew up in Reading, MA and defiantly recommend seeing how they have held up over the years. Just one example of how the community stays close is the library. It is one the most beautiful libraries I know and it has remained a well used community center for a lot of the residents. If you need a guide send me a message and I'd be glad to meet up with you.
comment for the algorithm, and to let you know that i loved this video! i live in a very similar historic massachusetts town with mbta access to boston, and as a young adult non-driver i'm constantly bemoaning car-centric infrastructure, even as i have a better situation than many other americans. i really appreciate this video as a good jumping-off point for my own research as i'm interested in getting involved in local government for the purpose of improving non-car infrastructure and transportation access! thank you so much for making it, it's really well-made for a first video :-)
Have lived in Newburyport for almost 30 years…the only downside to the incredible renewal of the town is that it is now unaffordable for all but the well off…rents are hard to find and expensive, can’t buy a house or condo for under $500,000
It's definitely a problem and something that I hope to at least discuss in a future video. I think that in part, the problem is when we conserve, we don't always rebuild where something has been demolished. The supply stays low and we keep our empty lots.
Great video! I live in MA and have always thought there’s something special to towns like Newburyport, Concord, Portsmouth, etc. I’m glad those conversations are happening and there seems to be a real renewed interest in transit oriented development around here. Excited to see more from your channel!
I lived in Newburyport in the 70s!Moved from Gloucester where they ravaged the city with urban renewal in the mid 60s. Live in the South now the hipsters have made it impossible to go home without lots of dollars. It isn't Gloucester anymore anyway RIP☹️
I grew up and lived there for the first 25 years of my life and loved it. Everyone knew everyone, from the cops on the beat/directing traffic to the shop owners and of course, neighbors. And even if you lived a short distance away from downtown, you could walk to everything and place you needed. I moved out just as they started tearing down some of the old downtown buildings, one being where my father's barber shop was located along with fond memories watching him cut hair as I waited for my mother to finish her shift across the street at the old Ruth Shoe building. Fortunately, leveler heads intervened and decisions to renovate most of the historic brick buildings ended up being good ones. It's a great place to live and visit and even though I eventually moved to Florida the one place in New England I miss most is my home town of Newburyport...and btw, as a note of interest...we "porters" pronounce it "Newbreeport", not "Newberryport" and the Mall where the sunken pond is pronounced, "Mal". That Mall is one of only two in the world, with one being in England somewhere. It's called a "kettle hole", formed by glaciers during the last Ice Age.
@@TheRuralUrbanist Lol! I honestly didn't notice but no big deal. What stuck out was your pronunciation of Newburyport but don't feel badly because EVERY "non-porter" does it. And you may or may not be familiar with the term "Yeat!" but I'm almost certain that originated in Newburport. It was just a different way of saying, "Hey, how's it going?" to our friends. Great video, BTW! Keep 'em coming.
that's America?!?!? I never knew there was anywhere in America that looked like that. At a glance I thought it was a northern (English) market/mining town. I've never seen anywhere in America like that.
It's sad to think, but much of America used to look like this and is gone now. This isn't actually the best example in my opinion, New England is full of pretty old towns. Check out Portsmouth, NH. I hope to do a future video there.
New England is full of charming old towns. I’m originally from Dublin but have lived here 33 years. It has more old buildings than you could possibly believe.
I like what you say about "good bones" in a city making it walkable. I'm currently moving away from a small island community that I've lived in for a decade, having tried to make more inroads to walkability and other non-car-centric options to make it more liveable. I realise that one of the things that's missing from that is the "bones" -- my island existed as several separate shore communities tied to the mainland (but not necessarily one another) by a fleet of ferries, and only developed as a single one via the car and paved roads. The shore communities are now basically gone, with a central car-based community having economically replaced them. And yes, people love to complain about both the traffic/car space on ferries AND having to share the road with bikes and buses. Moving in 3 weeks to a small, old city that does have what you'd call good bones for walkability, and I'm looking forward to experiencing the difference!
Also look up the history of the "Mosquito Fleet" in Puget Sound. After WW1, there was a glut of capable crew available, so it meant that it was easier to travel by water than land here. Burton is the last waterfront place besides the current north end ferry with any commerce now (until the late 80s there was a shop at the sound ferry).
Vashon is also unique with the bus service, in that a bloke named Harlan Rosford took over the service in the 50s and later sold it to King County Metro with a stipulation unique amongst all of Metro's routes: buses must stop *anywhere* along their routes (allowing for safety) that they are flagged down, or that a passenger needs to get off. Although we still technically have stops, it effectively makes the entire routes on island an infinite number of stops.
@@emmettpickerel I'm gonna keep this in mind. Looks very car dependent, but also alot of potential. I think that Burton and Vashon could be developed to be more pedestrian paradises. I don't see any bike infrastructure there.
I grew up in Troy NY in the late 60s and 70s the down town was ripped out and an unsuccessful mall was built I moved to Florida in the 80s some times I wonder if anything survived
Well done. But the fight goes on in Newburyport and you should be aware of that. The historic Fowles storefront is being altered as we speak after its landlord let it deteriorate. And please delve into the Karp company, which bought up much of Nantucket and has quietly done the same in Newburyport. This is a development firm that has no sense of community or history, but simply sees an opportunity to cash in on the once-lovely cities it has invaded. Thanks.
I've heard about this only from a comment earlier this morning, and I'm split on what to think. On one hand I think that the history is important and that any new development should match the character, but I'm worried that any new development besides what Karp has proposed would be even worse than be even worse than his plans. As a regular visitor to Newburyport, I would love to see something built on what has been empty lots for generations. Apartments, restaurants, offices, and walkable. Just my thoughts, I'd really need to look more into this before saying anything definite however.
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Thank you for watching! Please don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed the video and want to see more content like this.
A few notes: I have done my best to ensure the accuracy of this video, however there are bound to be mistakes. For example, clipper ships were actually used for crossing the oceans and for privateering. Not for coastal trade only. If anyone watching this is from Newburyport, hello! It is very possible that you have alternative opinions to what I've presented here. My knowledge of the events in the town's past are limited to my research, I'm not the foremost expert on the town. Finally, this is only the first time I've edited a video or filmed with a gimble... I apologize for any jank. Thanks for watching and stay tuned!
I grew up in Hyde Park thru 60s/70s. Proud of my Boston city and heritage. I would love to move back, but housing and taxes are near prohibited. During busing our house sold for $40K, and now worth $1million, and it's a very small home. This past autumn I had to illegally park in the North End to grab a Regina's Pizza and luckily did not get a ticket.😄 I really miss New England, the architecture, culture, museums, FOOD, and wicked humorous sarcasm... that gets me in trouble anywhere outside of New England. Ho Hum!
I love Regina's, but I usually arrive by train and foot so the biggest problem I have is not missing my train back home. 11 1/2 Thatcher Street is somewhere in that big small town that is welcoming, in the only way that real Boston knows how... Through brutal honesty and making fun of almost every customer. The housing costs are a very serious issue and is something that the region/world at large is struggling to fix.
Great video, I especially enjoyed the old footage of events around Newburyport. Next video I'd include a map with the location of some of the points of interest, otherwise it's fantastic.
Glad you liked it! I promise to link the entire old doc, totally worth a look, just a little boring later on.
Yeah, maps almost happened. I had limited time to finish the video and honestly forgot, while also struggling with where to fit it in. I would've mapped the station and TOD. I have the entire map of this place memorized, easy to forget not everyone else does😂
I'm so glad there's a renaissance of urbanism content on TH-cam! Newburyport looks beautiful!
Newburyport is a cool town but extremely expensive!!
@@dansugardude2655 Very true. It can be quite expensive for sure. Still, it is a beautiful town. I live 1 mile from it.
It's nice here
@@dansugardude2655 The entire North Shore is expensive, everything from Boston to Salisbury.
I grew up in Newbury in the 60s and 70s. My grandmother lived on Court St. in Newburyport. I live in Oregon now and get back to Newburyport several times every year. My biggest disappointment is what has become of Fowles. Here s a business space that was modernized in the early 20th century in classic Art Deco, I really wish it could be restored to what it was in the 1960's.
My wife and I spent 4 years in a small town called Shelburne Falls in western Mass.
Most beautiful small town experience I’ve ever had
Attaboy go get it!
Urban “renewal” destroyed my city of Dublin. Newburyport is an example of how to do things correctly though it sounds that only happened because the citizens spoke up! I live in Massachusetts now and there are dozens of charming old towns here.
@pl m The great pitfall of our great state, liberal Mass. 😉
I lived in Dublin from 2017 to 2020, and the way the city has become one giant ass hotel has to become a Well Theres Your Problem episode
Great first video. It's simple but well researched and interesting. As someone from a small Midwestern town not too far from Chuck Marohn's hometown, small towns don't get enough attention in discussions about urban planning or transit. It's important to know that small towns don't have to rely on cars to get around. They can just as easy have a small bus system or train station as any large city like Philadelphia or Boston.
I look forward to the content you plan to make. Subscribed.
Coming from southern New Hampshire, this stuff is so damn near and dear to my heart. All over New England, you can still find little vestiges of this kind of development, and unsurprisingly, they are where people want to go. I went to school at UNH in Durham, NH, and people always took the bus to downtown Portsmouth because it's just a nice place to be. No one worried about parking; there aren't 5-lane 45mph roads to worry about crossing; there are loads of shops and restraurants all within walking distance--and there's a good amount of housing, too (not enough, of course, but they're building more). It's a lively, lovely place. However, that urban style is restricted to the coast; people love it, but then seem to think it's restricted chronologically, too--to the past. Then you try to have discussions with them about building like that again, everywhere, and the first question--almost without fail--is "what do I do with my car". It's just...it's car-brained. We have the phrase for a reason, and it's just completely confounding to me. (Of course, this doesn't touch on the by-now-well-known paradox that it's now illegal to build this way in most places, because if it was legal, then you wouldn't need a car, and well, we can't have that....)
I moved to a suburb of the other Portland--Oregon--almost two years ago. Downtown Beaverton feels kind of similar to these (much) older New England towns because it's relatively dense and walkable in some places, and people flock to downtown from the surrounding suburbs because there's so much to do here; shops, restaurants, bars. It's all great! However, unlike these New England towns, the car has a more solid history of successfully demolition on the West Coast, so there's little housing downtown, and the same mindset seems to pervade here. People love the downtown, but worry about traffic being a problem if more people lived downtown. It makes me just want to walk around aimlessly, shouting at the top of my lungs, "you don't need to own a car!"--or at least, you shouldn't if you don't want to. There's been so much of every kind of damage done to America's cities over the past century by the car; I just wish I felt I could have more faith it's going to change.
This comment deserves a longer response, however, I have no time at the moment.
I grew up in Durham, and used to work in Portsmouth! Both towns were a huge influence on the way I look at towns and places. Someday I want to do videos about both. And with the no faith in change, the only way anything changes is if we fight like hell for it. We need to organize ourselves and fight for better places live. It will happen if we take action.
@@TheRuralUrbanist It's just incredibly frustrating to try pussyfooting your way around a conversation, when what the other person needs to hear is "we are all part of the problem; our behavior needs to change, and we need to accept a somewhat greater level of inconveniencing so as to not doom the world."
Lots of self-proclaimed very liberal people buy bigger cars than they need to (which we say is a matter of "personal choice", enviro-social consequences be damned), and can conceive of nothing but the present situation continuing, even when you point out to them that it can't, and so fight against attempts to change it (in this case, reducing parking, building more densely, using transit, etc.)
@@aquaticko yeah, I really get frustrated with personal responsibility arguments, as you mentioned. Of course we should all drive less, but we can't always rely on the individual to do this. Systems should be designed to the maximum with the goal of not allowing people to make mistakes. If we want walkable downtowns, slow down traffic with calming and one way roads or even pedestrian zones. Give people a bypass or something so they don't need to drive through the core.
I find that in convincing people, the idea is to be as genuine as possible from the beginning. I'm direct about what I believe but sometimes in conversation you need to show that you're listening to what they've got to say. Most people will drop hints about how they can be convinced. People will say that they love all these cute downtown shops and how easy it is to walk around, but they complain about the lack of parking. You can walk them from that point to show that if all we had downtown was parking, then there would be no shops left to visit. Everything would be a lot. I've talked with so many people about what I believe and the best way I've found to convince is not to approach it as debate or argument. Don't know if that made and sense 😂. Just my opinions.
Amazing video history, anti-car, and pro pedestrian! What more could you want! I have worked and always lived in Newburyport and I learned a lot from your video!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I love Newburyport, my family used to vacation there every summer when I was younger
My grandparents bought their home in Newburyport in 1929, and I was the 3rd generation owner and lived there all my life until 7 years ago. Newburyport always had a special magic and I will always treasure and feel so blessed to have been fortunate enough to grow up there. I don't like getting older, but it makes me happy that I remember Newburyport the way it was before urban renewal!
Lovely story, thank you for sharing it! It's a great city, even today. I lived around Portsmouth for awhile myself.
I grew up in Topsfield, and loved going up to Newburyport.
Thanks for the great Video!
From a European perspective, it's important not to overdo the "conservation" part, freezing the downtown in time, making it nothing more than a museum for tourists. A town should be kept practical and livable, so that people feel comfortable in it. There's nothing wrong, for example, with a few modern colorful signs for the shops, as long as they're tasteful.
Yeah, that was one of the points I was trying to make but I'm not sure if it came across. It's also really important for me, because our best towns are at risk of becoming museums. My next video will be from Germany and I understand the importance of a livable downtown, not just a pretty one. Newburyport took the first step and has struggled to get past that point.
It depends what you are conserving and how. There is no dichotomy between a town centre being well preserved and an attraction to tourists and being a good town centre. I'd actually go so far as to argue to a large degree in the modern age there's no distinction at all really. Conserving the buildings is pretty damn important for both.
People (at least older people in the UK) have clung onto the idea of town centres as they were largely because of nostalgia and not understanding the world today and how town centres of old are over and never coming back.
But ultimately if you live outside the town centre and do not work in it with the advent of out of town big box retail and the internet you never *have* to go to a town centre in a way you absolutely would have had to do 25+ years ago. Ultimately town centres have to be places people *want* to go. Locals have to be tourists of a sort. You have to make them pleasant to be in and full of stuff that can't be fulfilled online or in big box retail. This goes double in small towns where they can just be hollowed out and filled with empty shops in a way that's not really ever going to happen in bigger cities.
More office and work space and residential use, transport hubs in town centres will bring people in and keep them and the local economy more active but in the end you just need people to choose to go to them
Being from Newburyport, your concerns do not obtain. It's very, very livable, has plenty of amenities, etc. Newburyport has a small industrial park, for one thing.
Secondly, the city is only several square miles and all are used.
In this particular case, you really have to go there and live there for a few months to truly understand - believe me, one need not be concerned about what you raise.
Mostly because Newburyport IS a tourist trap and is a major day trip destination. Thar's money in them there pockets. And Newburyport delivers with boutiques, restaurants, entertainment and nightlife.
modern architecture is objectively ugly tho
@@patriot9487 When you can tell me why the construction "objectively ugly" is, essentially, a contradiction in terms, then I'll heed your aesthetic sensibilities.
In a small rural community in California and just trying to start a strong towns movement here! These videos are gonna be invaluable in meetings and other ways.
Thanks for watching, let me know if there's anything specific that could help!
Nicely done! Wish my city, Gloucester MA, had had the same foresight in the 1950's and 60's as Newburyport.
Newburyport didn't really start coming back until the 80s. In the 50s and 60s all those brickwork buildings downtown were empty and trashed but they fixed up nice. Not bulldozed.
Our greatest High School rival was, is and will always be Newburyport. Amesbury/Newburyport, while rivals, are as well fully aware of each other's history and importance. My Mother was born and raised in Newburyport. At age 59 I currently reside across the harbor in Salisbury. All surrounding towns, be they High School rivals or simply abutted neighbors, are very aware of how lucky they are to have an amazing town like Newburyport at their beckoning call. Thank you for sharing a bit about our friends in Newburyport.
Congrats on such a high quality first video! Sharing examples of healthy and strong communities that aren’t a parking lot hellscapes is very comforting. Let’s bring back streetcars next??
Fantastic first video! I live in neighboring Lowell and see a lot of similarities to the story of Newburyport. Lowell went through an era of rising interest in preservation through the creation of Lowell National Historical Park in the 1970s. We also have a somewhat isolated commuter rail line that used to be incredibly difficult to walk to from downtown. However, all of that is changing with new transit oriented development, paths and bus lanes connecting the station to downtown. Now if only our seasonal museum trolley could be turned into real transit!
The fact that the highway stops outside of the city, rather than making a path of destruction through the center of it that destroys the character and splits up the neighborhoods of the city is huge. I agree that the train station is not very accessible, and the bus system could be more reliable, but the historical character remains and the city is pretty walkable, while being more affordable than a lot of eastern mass
My hometown! Born and raised in the Port!
Congrats on your first video! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with next, but don't feel rushed to make content.
Salem, MA would be a great follow up to this, the urban density, vibrant and colorful neighborhoods, a lot of parks, a university and a lively downtown. It has plenty of issues to with traffic and unfriendly bike lanes but like you said the bones are there.
My wife and I love Salem, but we haven't been there enough and have never been in the Summer. It's on my list for the future! My next video is actually going to be from Europe... Stay tuned!
If only it hadn't sold it's soul and decided to become a neo-Pagan South Beach.
Great video, very good quality, especially for a first video! I can't wait to see future content from your channel!!!
I never comment on videos but I'm so glad to be seeing someone doing work around New England urbanism, especially in smaller communities - I'm a recent urban planning grad, and it's a topic that I care a lot about, so kudos
When I chose to raise my kids in a similar Massachusetts town, I didn't fully understand the advantages. Now that everyone is grown up and scattered, I do - and I realize they had one of the best childhoods / teen years possible.
Thank you so much for this wonderful video!! As someone born and raised here, this was wonderful to watch!
Glad you enjoyed it!
"You were neglecting that he was being sarcastic." 🤣 Great video and funny way to use that quote to end it.
This brings back a lot of memories as I worked on restoring several houses in Newburyport about 1972 as a 16 year old laborer. it was a bit of a commute from my hometown of Beverly but I am now glad that I have had that experience.
Unbelievable video. It’s a documentary. I am from this area and This is all new to me.
lived in newburyport for seven very good years. hell of a place to be a young man. beach at your door, 2 hours to the mountains, 45 mins from the city if there's no traffic, and the downtown area has something for everyone. charming little place without feeling small or removed.
First like and comment. This is very good!
I'm glad you liked it, hopefully I can put out some new videos soon!
Very good video, the one suggestion I have is you pause a bit too long on commas (just in my opinion). Like at 10:00 "Modern suburban development has bankrupted ... so many once beautiful towns and places." That could flow a bit better. Overall your cadence is pretty good.
Yeah, I feel that. Some of those pauses have several hours of days between them and had to be put together manually. I wish I'd used that software where you can auto remove gaps... Next time.
Great video! Great job bringing the documentary from years ago up to to date. I’m working on a documentary about the history of Yankee Homecoming!
Fun fact: HP Lovecraft's the Shadow over Innsmouth was based on Newburyport. The spooky rural coastal town vibe in the story is so different from the vibrant historic downtown of today.
woot woot, love seeing stuff about Newburyport, it's an interesting town to live in for sure
Great video! I am a North Shore resident and have always known Newburyport as one of the most beautiful places in the state. So interesting to see the footage from the ‘60s and hear your point that there really isn’t anything historically unique about the planning of the city. Such a great case study!
My stomping grounds! Love Newburyport. Thanks for giving me more background on the town.
I’m impressed that tiny Newburyport began its conservation efforts so soon after the demolition of Pennsylvania Station and a good decade before America’s bicentennial celebration sparked the first nationwide efforts at urban conservation.
Yeah, they were really early.
What a great video. I moved to mass 3 years ago and my partner took me to Newbury port. Did not know this little seaside town had this much history and that urban renewal reached that far out of Boston.
Unfortunately, urban renewal touched almost every corner of America. When people say that America isn't walkable or that we don't have any new buildings, it's largely because of the destruction of old downtowns. I post a link in my description to the original documentary, please go check it out! So much that I couldn't cover.
As someone that grew up in Newburyport, this video was incredibly interesting! Believe it or not, they don't teach this stuff to us in schools.
As a budding urbanist from rural New Hampshire, this is a very relevant and encouraging video. Thank you, and I look forward to seeing whatever you cover in the future!
Great video! I've been in the Newburyport area my whole life - nice to add some pictures to the history in my head. Small tip: local libraries often have archive about their town with lots of interesting and high quality pictures and maps (and usually a scanner too!) - at least I know the Newburyport Public Library does. Subscribed and good luck!
Good video, I lived in Newburyport for 10 years late 70s forward. It is a great place and community. I still miss it. We lived in the downtown area, and used to walk and bike everywhere. I still take our boat up the Merrimac and tie up to the town dock for a visit when you can get a space. I hope they keep all this in mind with their expansion.
8:39 there was a little pause here, it almost sounded like thinking about them made you smile
this is incredible.
This video is a fantastic build on the work other channels are doing to highlight issues of development, human-centered rather than car-centered design, and the financial prosperity of local communities. Well done and I look forward to more videos.
Very good and interesting
Great video. As a resident of nearby Gloucester MA, this serves as an interesting perspective as to what other neighboring and historic cities could become. Thank you!
I already loved Newburyport, but this just makes me appreciate that town even more!
I agree with you. I would also like to see private gardens, community garden and a place for people to get together.
Great vid, I'm a lifelong New Englander and I appreciate the attention you put in the video. Another town of interest might be Beverly, as its currently In the middle of what's going to be a long urban renewal process. We still do have "good bones" as you mentioned, the rail connection is downtown and we have redeveloped many of our downtown parking lots have been developed into dense housing.
TH-cam showed me the Farms video. I haven't watched it - but your channel name caught my attention and I followed the link to this video. So far, this is the only video of yours that I've watched - but I keep thinking about it - so I came back to leave a LONG comment. 🙂
I have been openly concerned about sprawl and car-centered development for over a quarter of a century - and through Strong Towns and many TH-cam "urbanist" videos, I've kind of come back to it. Listening to Jeff Speck on the Strong Towns podcast, I kind of feel like I've come full circle.
At any rate, what I came back to say is that I'm eager to see you continue to develop your channel. So many of the "urbanist" channels on TH-cam are about ... well ... cities. I live in a fairly urban area (although my wife and kids deny it) - and while Rochester NY is not really a BIG city, it's certainly not a small town. As far as street-frontage goes, our neighborhood is as dense as many neighborhoods in Rochester proper.
In the past few years, especially as I've done more of my work online, I've been captivated by the idea of a "small town with a main street". New York State has a few that really appeal to me. My wife and I have had some discussions about the difference between a "small town" and a "suburb/exurb." Lately, we've been exploring the limits of this distinction -- mostly because I've started working at the fringe of what I would consider "the Rochester area." As we become empty nesters, we find ourselves contemplating a move which would put us closer to both of our day jobs -- and I find we have a few options. We like where we live now, even though "walkable" here means mostly "to a strip mall" - but the commute is a bit too much, and we're thinking we could find some value in a different neighborhood.
I'm looking at one neighborhood in Rochester proper (where the attitude is often that decent people don't live in "the city"), a very "suburban" neighborhood between our two workplaces, or one of the small towns on the outskirts. We're kind of going through the things in our life and wondering what we would miss if we moved to a "small town." Occasionally, small towns come up in Strong Towns -- but I don't hear a lot about them anywhere else - or even there -- so I'm really drawn to what you've started here.
Well, now that I've written this much - I suppose I should subscribe. 🙂
Thank you - enjoyed this video about a special place
This is really well done. The TH-cam algorithm brought me here, and I am not disappointed, subscribed! :)
Excellent video, I worked as a photographer at the Daily News for 32 years, finally retiring in 2019. I have 10's of thousands of photographs of the Newburyort area. and hundreds from before and during Urban Renewal. Feel free to reach out if I can help you in any future projects. I live in east Kansas, but still have lots of contacts in the area.
I'm glad that you enjoyed it! Next video should be coming soon, and unfortunately not about Newburyport, but I do plan to revisit it in the future.
I would love to see some of your photos/work if you have the time! I may also do a Portsmouth video in the future, if you ever shot up there!
@@TheRuralUrbanist I don't. The story or Urban Renewal in Newburyport isn't over, there is still a big fight over the waterfront, whether or not the NRA lots will ever be developed.
@@jimvaiknoras7822 that's my biggest frustration with the place. It did one of the most amazing things in American history, and then froze.
Oh hi Jim! How’s Kansas treating ya? This video made me miss working at the Daily News a little bit lol
@@jessicaadams3364 thing are good here, still getting used to it, we moved during the hight of the pandemic.
Wow…such beautiful brick buildings. It would be nice if they passed an ordinance to build all of the newer apartments in that same style. So classic.❤
Great video! I really like the footage, both archival and what was shot by you. My only advice would be regarding the audio, it’s pretty clean but could be cleaner. You can try snipping the high-ends to remove the mic hiss that can be heard at moments, and easing your voice clips in and out to make for smoother transition from the moments of silence. Adding a very subtle room tone throughout the video could help with these two things too.
Again, great video, I look forward to the next one
I live in the next town over from Newburyport. It's a very nice town. It's just so old. That everything is so cramped
Built long before cars...Cars add to the cramped feeling. ✌
@@dennistyler8746 very true. Just like Boston.
Nice job on your first video! It is a great follow up to the A Measure of Change documentary. I am very fortunate as I live and work in Newburyport. I can walk to both the downtown and commuter rail. At one time the city was going to have a shuttle from the commuter rail to downtown but that never was established. It is about a 15-20 minute walk to the downtown from the commuter rail station, either through the neighborhood or on the Clipper City Rail Trail that is almost finished. I believe my husband's family came here in the late 1800s so they have seen it all!
When I was in High School, I used to walk from Fruit Street to the station. The walk isn't bad at all!
I grew up in Quincy MA and moved to Stoughton MA during college, I’d love to see a video on either! I loved the video, very informative
Quincy would be interesting especially seeing what it is today verse 20 years ago. I still think they are struggling with the urban renewal concept.
Nice vid! Commenting to boost those engagement numbers and get this into more peoples suggestions ;)
Much appreciated!
What a great video! I live near Newburyport and love it’s old town charm. You did an excellent job of capturing that👍
I love Newburyport port !
*Earliest settler communities
Excellent video, I really like the idea of looking at smaller towns instead of the focus on purely larger cities. I've often wondered how car dominance could be reduced in smaller and more rural communities. I'm looking forward to future videos.
Awesome video, the information was well-presented and organized. I can't wait to see more!
wow, what a wonderful video!! it is genuinely inspiring to see how beautiful small towns can be. the part near the end about cars being the reason you dont know your neighbors really spoke to me
Hey, I'm really happy that you enjoyed it! I think if we can all learn to see the beauty in places like this, we stand a better chance at a good future!
As somebody who’s lived in Newbury (right next to Newburyport) for over 12 years and who spends a lot of time downtown, I love this video.
I already knew a lot of the history from my very short time as a volunteer at The Custom House Maritime Museum (didn’t know about Newburyport being the first town to use urban renewal money for pedestrian infrastructure though). Nevertheless, it is very awesome to see more attention being brought to one of my favorite towns. And yeah the location of the commuter rail stops sucks, it’s way too far and not connected at all to downtown. Still is a very reliable and easy way to get to Boston (although a bit pricey). Far better than driving through Boston’s maze of streets (love the character, but makes things so confusing)
I was staying with my older cousin on Middle Road and easily walked from there to the T station, up the trail to Gillis and along the waterfront to beyond the Coast Guard station and back to Middle Road.
This is great! I grew up in Newburyport, so it's a bit surreal to see a TH-cam video on it (my sister's dog makes a cameo actually). When urban planning TH-cam became more popular I thought it'd would a great example for what American towns/cities can be. Glad to see someone else thought the same.
Oh cool!
Good content. Plus your calm and clear way of speaking makes it easier and interesting to follow. Please make more quality videos on urban planning in small towns and rural areas. As far as I know most of the urban planning case study related videos limited to big city examples.
Thank you! The goal is to talk about the small places, they don't get nearly enough attention and people assume they can't be good examples!
A wonderful video on my hometown. Growing up there I remember the struggles to keep the brick buildings.
So happy that urban renewal saved the downtown. Elsewhere in the town are the gorgeous Federal homes on High Street and our incomparable Newburyport High School. Best wishes on your next videos!!
I grew up in Newbury/Newburyport in the 40s and 50s. Graduated from Newburyport High School in 1960. I left for college and never came back except to visit family. I heard a lot about the urban renewal issues second hand. I love the way Newburyport looks now, but it breaks my heart that many of my old friends can't afford to live there anymore. Fifty years ago, my husband and I moved to a small town in Texas than was just on the cusp of a population boom, It's taken a while, but some very wise administrators have protected and developed the downtown area which, like Newburyport, had beautiful brick buildings. They have been protected. A downtown park has become a gathering sport for concerts, weddings, and festivals. A light rail system was added a number of years ago which enables people to get to Dallas easily. Now some of the old buildings, along with new ones which blend in nicely with the old, are becoming storefronts and restaurants below, with apartments above. It will never be Newburyport, but there have been lessons learned that probably benefit towns all over the USA.
The not knowing your neighbor thing hits a little bit too close to home I’ve gone for hundreds of walks/runs through my town and I’ve only met a few people
None of my neighbors even know who I am so if I’m lucky enough to see someone I’ll probably get stink eyed
I don’t want to talk your ear off but I just want to say that it’s made me so depressed living in this kind of community I don’t know if I can make it another year
I’ve learnt I’m a weird person, I need exercise hikes and human interaction to function and be happy and going so much of my life without enough of that has been hard
I need to take a break from thinking about this it’s getting me depressed
Hey, I know that it's tough. I've felt exactly how you're feeling, and it will be ok. It's not weird to want honest human interaction! It is, in fact, incredibly normal and vitally important to be around other people sometimes. Even if the community you are in does not have this, you can always try to find one that offers this.
I hope that this helps, it's not easy, but there is a future where people can live in communities. Where we don't have to feel guilty for wanting connection.
@@TheRuralUrbanist thinks! I was getting all depressed for a minute but I’m feeling better
One day I’ll move somewhere where I can fit in better and meet people, even though I haven’t lived here that long it feels like it’s been an eternity
Also great video!
id love to see a video about small towns in the midst of larger urban areas and how they can resist car dependent suburbanization and ultimately a destruction of their community. over several decades this happened to a town close to my own, and we are all afraid it will happen to us next when the other town is filled up…only to then be left to decay as the “ball” of newer development is kicked down the road.
Great video expect you forgot that the trail distroy the city .
Allowing big city people to turn it into little Nantucket .
Running out the people that saved it.
Ps I was born and lived there until 2009.
The town was originally Newbury and the first settles can set you straight.
Good stuff. Concept of the Rural Urbanist is something i'm very interested in
This video hit the nail on the head in terms of the dearth of usable public transit and car dependency in town. I live right by the core of downtown, but I still rely on a car to go grocery shopping or run other errands. I could take my bike or walk, but (relatively) safe biking and walking infrastructure only goes up to Storey Ave. Sheltered bike lanes either on High Street or Low Street would help ease this issue.
Those old photos of Newburyport remind me of old English, Northern Irish, and Irish towns in the British Isles
Well done! I'm from the next town over, Newbury, MA (Byfield village)
Do amesbury! I'd love to learn more about amesbury's past
If your looking for more New England towns to look at I live grew up in Reading, MA and defiantly recommend seeing how they have held up over the years. Just one example of how the community stays close is the library. It is one the most beautiful libraries I know and it has remained a well used community center for a lot of the residents. If you need a guide send me a message and I'd be glad to meet up with you.
comment for the algorithm, and to let you know that i loved this video! i live in a very similar historic massachusetts town with mbta access to boston, and as a young adult non-driver i'm constantly bemoaning car-centric infrastructure, even as i have a better situation than many other americans. i really appreciate this video as a good jumping-off point for my own research as i'm interested in getting involved in local government for the purpose of improving non-car infrastructure and transportation access! thank you so much for making it, it's really well-made for a first video :-)
Thank you! I really also want to get involved with pushing for this stuff in the future. Sometimes, the best that we can do is to show up.
Have lived in Newburyport for almost 30 years…the only downside to the incredible renewal of the town is that it is now unaffordable for all but the well off…rents are hard to find and expensive, can’t buy a house or condo for under $500,000
It's definitely a problem and something that I hope to at least discuss in a future video. I think that in part, the problem is when we conserve, we don't always rebuild where something has been demolished. The supply stays low and we keep our empty lots.
Great video! I live in MA and have always thought there’s something special to towns like Newburyport, Concord, Portsmouth, etc.
I’m glad those conversations are happening and there seems to be a real renewed interest in transit oriented development around here. Excited to see more from your channel!
I lived in Newburyport in the 70s!Moved from Gloucester where they ravaged the city with urban renewal in the mid 60s. Live in the South now the hipsters have made it impossible to go home without lots of dollars. It isn't Gloucester anymore anyway RIP☹️
Great video!!!
I grew up and lived there for the first 25 years of my life and loved it. Everyone knew everyone, from the cops on the beat/directing traffic to the shop owners and of course, neighbors. And even if you lived a short distance away from downtown, you could walk to everything and place you needed. I moved out just as they started tearing down some of the old downtown buildings, one being where my father's barber shop was located along with fond memories watching him cut hair as I waited for my mother to finish her shift across the street at the old Ruth Shoe building.
Fortunately, leveler heads intervened and decisions to renovate most of the historic brick buildings ended up being good ones. It's a great place to live and visit and even though I eventually moved to Florida the one place in New England I miss most is my home town of Newburyport...and btw, as a note of interest...we "porters" pronounce it "Newbreeport", not "Newberryport" and the Mall where the sunken pond is pronounced, "Mal". That Mall is one of only two in the world, with one being in England somewhere. It's called a "kettle hole", formed by glaciers during the last Ice Age.
I swear I pronounced Mal correctly😅
@@TheRuralUrbanist Lol! I honestly didn't notice but no big deal. What stuck out was your pronunciation of Newburyport but don't feel badly because EVERY "non-porter" does it. And you may or may not be familiar with the term "Yeat!" but I'm almost certain that originated in Newburport. It was just a different way of saying, "Hey, how's it going?" to our friends. Great video, BTW! Keep 'em coming.
Do you plan on doing videos about other cities like Portsmouth for example?
Portsmouth is on the list, but I want to wait until my skills are more developed!
Love newburyport visited several times
This is a beautiful video!
Glad that you liked it!
My favorite place to be , I moved but when I vist I always end up there
How I wish I lived there ,
that's America?!?!? I never knew there was anywhere in America that looked like that. At a glance I thought it was a northern (English) market/mining town. I've never seen anywhere in America like that.
It's sad to think, but much of America used to look like this and is gone now. This isn't actually the best example in my opinion, New England is full of pretty old towns. Check out Portsmouth, NH. I hope to do a future video there.
New England is full of charming old towns. I’m originally from Dublin but have lived here 33 years. It has more old buildings than you could possibly believe.
Liked, subcribed, commented. 😎
I like what you say about "good bones" in a city making it walkable. I'm currently moving away from a small island community that I've lived in for a decade, having tried to make more inroads to walkability and other non-car-centric options to make it more liveable. I realise that one of the things that's missing from that is the "bones" -- my island existed as several separate shore communities tied to the mainland (but not necessarily one another) by a fleet of ferries, and only developed as a single one via the car and paved roads. The shore communities are now basically gone, with a central car-based community having economically replaced them. And yes, people love to complain about both the traffic/car space on ferries AND having to share the road with bikes and buses.
Moving in 3 weeks to a small, old city that does have what you'd call good bones for walkability, and I'm looking forward to experiencing the difference!
That sounds like a really interesting case? What's the name of the island?
Vashon
Also look up the history of the "Mosquito Fleet" in Puget Sound. After WW1, there was a glut of capable crew available, so it meant that it was easier to travel by water than land here. Burton is the last waterfront place besides the current north end ferry with any commerce now (until the late 80s there was a shop at the sound ferry).
Vashon is also unique with the bus service, in that a bloke named Harlan Rosford took over the service in the 50s and later sold it to King County Metro with a stipulation unique amongst all of Metro's routes: buses must stop *anywhere* along their routes (allowing for safety) that they are flagged down, or that a passenger needs to get off. Although we still technically have stops, it effectively makes the entire routes on island an infinite number of stops.
@@emmettpickerel I'm gonna keep this in mind. Looks very car dependent, but also alot of potential. I think that Burton and Vashon could be developed to be more pedestrian paradises. I don't see any bike infrastructure there.
Do you have any. The old train station and The Pedestrian walkway overthink Route 1 Caldwell's on the waterfront?
Please talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees
Looks remarkably similar to Northern England.
I grew up in Troy NY in the late 60s and 70s the down town was ripped out and an unsuccessful mall was built I moved to Florida in the 80s some times I wonder if anything survived
If you'd like to do a retrospective on a fully car-centric town that still has "good bones" come to Rutland, Vermont.
Well done. But the fight goes on in Newburyport and you should be aware of that. The historic Fowles storefront is being altered as we speak after its landlord let it deteriorate. And please delve into the Karp company, which bought up much of Nantucket and has quietly done the same in Newburyport. This is a development firm that has no sense of community or history, but simply sees an opportunity to cash in on the once-lovely cities it has invaded. Thanks.
I've heard about this only from a comment earlier this morning, and I'm split on what to think. On one hand I think that the history is important and that any new development should match the character, but I'm worried that any new development besides what Karp has proposed would be even worse than be even worse than his plans. As a regular visitor to Newburyport, I would love to see something built on what has been empty lots for generations. Apartments, restaurants, offices, and walkable.
Just my thoughts, I'd really need to look more into this before saying anything definite however.
I love this video so much it's a small town like this and London England the town is York