To read the book, click here - Salisbury Chamber of Commerce

SALISBURY HISTORYWhen owned by Mr. & Mrs. Charles Davis, numbers on theupstairs bedroom doors were discovered from the days whenthe rooms were rented to guests from the stagecoach.HORSE RAILROADEnoch T. Northland, operator of the Newburyport andAmesbury Horse Railroad, built a narrow gauge horsecar line along Salisbury Beach, called the “Sea Side Railroad.”It extended from Salisbury Beach to Black Rocks nearthe mouth of the Merrimac River, a distance of approximatelytwo miles. It began carrying passengers on July 18,1879. Its main purpose was to pick up passengers coming bysteamer down the Merrimac River and take them to thebeach hotels. When Northland’s lease ran out in 1883, hesold the railroad to Colonel Edward P. Shaw. Shaw rebuiltthe line to standard gauge and organized the Black Rocksand Salisbury Beach Railroad.In 1888, he built a line from Salisbury Beach to SalisburySquare and the Eastern Railroad Depot. In 1889, Shawextended lines from Salisbury Square to Newburyport andfrom Salisbury Square to Market Square, Amesbury. A yearlater a line was built from Salisbury Square to Browns Parkon Lafayette Road, almost to the Seabrook, New Hampshireborder.The main car barn and stables were in Salisbury Squareat the top of Beach Road. Another car barn was halfwaybetween the square and the beach, as was a small stable atthe foot of Rocky Hill Road in Amesbury. This was due to theneed for extra horses to pull the car up the hill.In the summer of 1891, the “Black Rocks and SalisburyBeach’’ electrified it’s line between the beach and Amesbury.48