107 



and in 1787, Juniper's battery is named in a report of 

 the French engineer, Rochefontaine, who was then ex- 

 amining the fortifications of New England. At this 

 period, the old forts seem to have been much frequented 

 by children from the east end of the town, who resorted 

 there for games of props and wrestling, and on holidays 

 found cakes and other articles of refreshment for sale 

 there. (See Hist. Coll. Essex List., vol. VI, p. 85.) 



Another incident of interest is preserved in the "famous 

 records" kept at the barber's shop of Benjamin Blanchard 

 611 Essex, opposite Cambridge street ; in which records, 

 local events were entered from day to day, by the emi- 

 nent patrons of that resort. An entry under date of 

 Jan'y 17, 1809, reads as follows : 



"Col. Lee, Collector of Customs, at the head of about 

 seventy men, .went to the Hospital on the Juniper, to 

 prevent the Embargo laws from being violated. It was 

 suspected a vessel belonging in Beverly would sail that 

 evening." The suspected craft did not sail that evening, 

 but escaped the Collector's vigilance a night or two after, 

 and it was said that her Federalist owners, as a blind, 

 claimed that she had been run away with, and advertised 

 a reward for information which would convict any un- 

 authorized persons of having taken possession of her. 

 The Hospital at the Juniper was established in 1792(?) 

 and was destroyed by fire on the 16th of October, 1846, 

 and the playground which the boys of Salem selected a 

 century ago is now a place of wholesome recreation 

 for the southern half of Essex County. 



The inspiration of the occasion was not wholly in the 

 memories of the past, but bright sunlight, refreshing 

 breezes, the lovely green of the shore and the deep blue 

 of the bay, dotted with the white sails of many yachts, 

 engaged in their annual regatta that morning, added 



