Native Americans in the United StatesNative Americans called the area Agawam, meaning "lowland, marsh or meadow (with water)." Here they hunted and caught fish, especially shellfish, leaving behind middenmounds of animal shellshells. Captain John Smith of JamestownJohn Smith would write about the region in 1614, referring to it as "an excellent habitation, being a good and safe harbour." A pestilenceplague of about 1617, perhaps smallpox brought from abroad, devastated the once populous Indigenous peoples of the AmericasIndian tribe. In 1633, John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sent his son, also named John, and 12 men aboard a shallop to settle the town. It was incorporated in 1634 as Ipswich, after Ipswich in SuffolkSuffolk County, England, the source of prominent early settlers. The tidal Ipswich River provided water power for mills, and salt marshsalt marshes supplied hay for livestock. Pioneers would become farmingfarmers, fishingfishermen, shipbuildingshipbuilders or traders. A cottage industry in lace-making developed. But in 1687, Ipswich residents, led by the Reverend John Wise (clergyman)John Wise, protested a tax imposed by the governor, Sir Edmund Andros. As Englishmen, they argued, no taxation without representationtaxation without representation was unacceptable. Citizens were jailed, but then Andros was recalled to England in 1689, and the new British sovereigns, William and Mary of EnglandWilliam and Mary, issued colonists another charter. The rebellion is the reason the town calls itself the "Birthplace of American Independence." Great clipper ships of the 19th century, however, bypassed Ipswich in favor of deep-water seaports at Salem, MassachusettsSalem and Newburyport, MassachusettsNewburyport. The town remained primarily a fishing and farming community, its residents living in older homes they could not afford to replace -- leaving Ipswich with a considerable inventory of early architecture. In 1822, a stocking manufacturing machine which had been smuggled out of England arrived at Ipswich, violating a British ban on exporting technology, and the community would develop as a mill town. In 1868, Amos A. Lawrence established the Ipswich Hosiery Mills beside the river. It would expand into the largest stocking mill in the country by the turn of the century. In 1910, Richard T. Crane, Jr. of Chicago, IllinoisChicago, the Business magnatemagnate owner of Crane Plumbing, bought Castle Hill, Ipswich, MassachusettsCastle Hill, a drumlin on Ipswich Bay. He hired Olmsted Brothers, successors to Frederick Law Olmsted, to landscape his 3,500 acre estate, and engaged the Boston, MassachusettsBoston architectural firm of Shepley, Rutan and CoolidgeShepley, Rutan & Coolidge to design an ItalyItalian Renaissance Revival style villa on the summit. A grande allee, 160 feet wide and lined with statuary, would run the half mile from house to sea. But his wife, Florence, loathed the building. Crane promised that if she still didn't like it in 10 years, he would replace it. True enough, in 1928 a new 59-room mansion designed by Chicago architect David Adler in the English House of StuartStuart style stood in its place, called the Great House. At Mrs. Crane's death in 1949, the entire property was bequeathed to the Trustees of Reservation, which uses it as a venue for concerts and weddings. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998. It was a filming location for the 1987 movie The Witches of Eastwick (film)The Witches of Eastwick, based on the The Witches of Eastwicknovel written by John Updike. For many years a resident of Ipswich, Updike used the community as a model for his fictional town of Tarbox, MassachusettsTarbox. Other movies with scenes filmed in Ipswich include Mermaids, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 film)The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Glory (movie)Glory (1989), National Treasure (2003) and The Crucible (film)The Crucible (1996). FloodFlooding in May of 2006 caused extensive damage to three bridges in town. The Choate Bridge (built in 1764), a stone arch bridge, was closed as a result of structural damage. County Street Bridge and Mill Bridge were also closed for repairs. Following the bridge closings, a fire occurred in an historical block of shops adjacent to the Choate Bridge. Image:The Landing, Ipswich, MA.jpgThe Landing in c. 1912 Image:Historical House Kitchen, Ipswich, MA.jpgWhipple House in c. 1910 Image:Old Sawmill, Ipswich, MA.jpgOld Sawmill in c. 1906 Image:Ipswich Mills.jpgIpswich Mills in c. 1912 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipswich%2C_Massachusetts