Our Parks - Bartlet Mall

Barlet Mall Restoration Project - click here for information

Address: 151 High Street, Newburyport

Parking/Access: Two blocks from downtown Newburyport. Parking available on the surrounding streets.

Features

Bartlet Mall includes over seven acres, with a promenade surrounding a centrally located pond, used for skating in the winter. Other features include a series of paths, walkways, benches and shade trees.

There is a playground on the corner of Auburn and High Street was newly renovated in 2023-24 and includes all-inclusive, accessible playground features as well as a basketball court. At the time of writing, the Port Parks Alliance is fundraising for new benches to accompany the playground. You can donate here.  

History

• The park centers on a deep gully, a kettle hole, shaped thousand years ago by ice that broke off of a retreating glacier. 
• The pond formed by the kettle hole was named the Frog Pond by settlers in 1645 and used to water their sheep.
• The Mall was professionally landscaped in the 1880’s by well-known American landscape architect Charles Eliot. Eliot was known for pioneering principles of regional planning, naturalistic systems approach to landscape architecture, and laying the groundwork for conservancies across the world.
• The Swan Fountain in the center of the Frog Pond originally functioned to aerate and improve the water quality. The original fountain was gifted to the city by Ed Moseley in 1891. The fountain is not currently operational while the City explores funding sources for a major renovation of the pond and fountain.
• The Mall is also the site of a Superior Courthouse that dates to 1805. It was designed by architect Charles Bulfinch, who also designed the Massachusetts State House in Boston. It is one of the oldest active courthouses in the United States. Both the courthouse and the Mall were listed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1976 and included in the Newburyport Historic District in 1984.