1643Reverend Richard Blynman was authorized to cut a passage between the Harbor and the Annisquam River.Economy and Industry, Government and Public Service, Infrastructure, Transportation

At a town meeting on May 26, 1643, it was voted that Rev. Blynman would make the cut, which enabled early settlers to avoid going all the way around Cape Ann to deliver goods to the other side of the Cape. After the vote, Blynman was to “cut the beach through, and to maintain it, and to have the benefit of it to himself and his for ever; giving the inhabitants of the town free passage.” A bridge was soon constructed.