As a poet should sing of his home, Whittier sang the beauties of the
scenery in and around the town in which he lived, its walks and drives
giving views of hilltop and lake, of stream and ocean.
Amesbury is set among the hills, Powow Hill at its back and the swift
stream of the same name running from the foot of this hill through the
town and going on to join the Merrimac. Amesbury is a border town--the
only town of this name in the whole country, this and its neighbor
Salisbury being called from the famous Amesbury and its adjacent
Salisbury in England. Amesbury with the beautiful Merrimac River on its
south, has on its north the rounded summits which make New Hampshire
from its very beginning the land of hills. It was one of the earliest
settled towns in America, receiving its name in 1667, and electing
its board of “Prudenshall” the following year. From earliest times,
Whittier’s own family figured largely in the annals of this region,
Whittier Hill in Amesbury having been named from one of his ancestors.
It was impossible that Whittier should not have deep interest in its
history and legends, and in its people among whom he had intimate and
dear friends.