but on the ferry road there are magnificent ones not far from the river.
They are growing on each side of the road, arching it over with their
graceful boughs.

[Illustration: WHITTIER'S HOME, AMESBURY.]

The Ferry proper near which was born Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, is at the foot of the street that
runs from the Mills down to the river. In old times there was a
veritable ferry here a few rods above where the Powow empties into the
Merrimack. This ferry is mentioned in the records, two years after the
town had been set upon its feet. In a book written about Amesbury by Mr.
Joseph Merrill, a native of the town, it is stated that the town
petitioned the general Court for leave to keep a Ferry over the river at
this place. This is the record from the same source:--

"The County Court held at Hampton, ye 13th of ye 8th month 1668, Mr.
Edward Goodwin being presented by ye Selectmen of ye town of Amesbury to
Court to keep ye Ferry over Merrimac river about ye mouth of ye Powow
river where ye said Goodwin now dwelleth, the Court do allow and approve
of ye sd person for one year next following and until ye Court shall
take further orders therein, and ye prices to be as followeth so, for
every single passenger two pence, for a horse and man six pence, and for
all great cattle four pence, for sheep and other small cattle under two
years old two pence per head."

In 1791 there came up a question of a bridge being built across the
Merrimac. A town meeting was called to oppose the measure, and in this
it was argued that a bridge would throw into disuse the ferry with which
much pains had been taken. Precious old fogies! In those days, too, they