Lawrence Heritage State Park

June 30, 2019 Thunderstorms

Lawrence Heritage State Park has four different parts. The Pemberton Park between the canal and the Merrimack River commemorates the 145 people who lost their lives in the Pemberton Mill disaster of 1860. The Riverfront Park and Riverside Park are on opposite sides of the Merrimack. The Greycourt State Park in nearby Methuen contains the grounds, gate house, and ruins of the Tenney Castle.

Lawrence Heritage State Park headquarters has a museum that is dedicated to the history of the Lawrence cotton mills and labor movement in the Industrial Revolution.

The visitor center has a pretty good exhibit. The kids loved exploring all the “old technology”, such as a rotary telephone, a typewriter, and a sewing machine.

We learned about the Pemberton Mill disaster that claimed the lives of 140+ people, and the labor movement of 1912 that eventually led to overtime pay.

We then took a walk outside along the canal and saw the Pemberton Mill that was rebuilt, and along the Merrimack River that had more mills and dormitories converted into apartments and condos.

The clock tower you see above is the largest mill clock tower in the world, with faces that are nearly the size of Big Ben’s. It really stands out on the skyline.

The other park we visited was the Greycourt State Park that had the ruins of the Tenney Castle. This castle was built by an industrialist and “city father” of Methuen called Charles H. Tenney in 1890, but was burned down in different fires in the 1970s.

The grounds were pretty and would have been a beautiful place for pictures, but really not a whole lot to see here.

The canal walk is short but has a series of bridges and imposing mills. But the walk is short and lacks signs for points of interest. This is a diamond in the rough and will certainly improve with investment.
The museum was nicely done. The walk along the canal and the Merrimack was alright, but the buildings were not in good shape.
The museum was boring, just some old stuff, and the buildings around there were in bad shape.
The museum was good but it was kind of boring. I liked the castle.
The castle looked cool. I like playing with the telephone.