HARBOR HIGHLIGHTS
It’s Race Week and the Current is on board
IN THIS ISSUE
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SERIOUS SETBACK
HAZY DAYS
Local couple plans comeback from loss of lobster boat
Orange you glad that wildfire smoke is gone?
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Page 6
NONPROFIT ORG PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
MARBLEHEAD, MA PERMIT NO. 25
NEWS FOR PEOPLE, NOT FOR PROFIT.
TM
JULY 22, 2026
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VOLUME 4, ISSUE NO. 35
FIRST WAVE 1
Columnist Virginia Buckingham is back, writing about a family heirloom. Page 5.
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MARBLEHEADCURRENT.ORG
Board of Health calls for caution in light of cyclosporiasis outbreak. Page 6
A Marblehead 3 .teen charged
in a fatal crash was back in Lynn Juvenile Court Friday. Page 7.
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ON SOCIAL @MHDCURRENT
Events: 4 Current “Four Glover
brothers” talk at Goldthwait headlines events. Page 11
police log 5 The chronicles a wild
Fourth of July on Brown’s Island. Page 12.
Five facts from this week’s Marblehead Current.
HOUSING
Town works through confusion over ADU BY LEIGH BLANDER Less than three months after Town Meeting approved changes to Marblehead’s accessory dwelling unit bylaw to comply with a new state law, town officials are still working to determine exactly how the regulations should be implemented.
Learning the process CURRENT PHOTOS / ALEKA KROITZSH
Once again this year, Glover’s Regiment and like-minded reenactors from across the state and beyond transformed Fort Sewall into an 18th-century military camp July 18.
HOLDING THE FORT
History comes to life at annual Glover’s encampment BY ALEKA KROITZSH Glover’s Regiment and their friends transported visitors to the Revolutionary era during their annual reenactment of an 18th-century military camp at Fort Sewall Saturday. Around 100 people wearing 18th-century garb chatted with visitors and flitted between tents and tables. Cannons and muskets were fired during battle reenactments, children partook in a military drill, and members of Glover’s Regiment demonstrated 18th-century craftsmanship, including butter churning, candle making, blacksmithery, laundry and weaving. “Just about every battle is like a big family reunion,” said Bob Deisle, who has participated in reenactments for 60 years and joined Saturday’s festivities from central New Jersey as part of the 25th Continental Regiment. Long-time Marblehead residents Katie and Tim Sullivan echoed this sentiment, saying that the best part of the event is spending time with family. Katie Sullivan, who gave visitors samples of her hand-churned butter at the reenactment, said she first became involved with Glover’s Regiment when she brought her father to the encampment 15 years ago as a birthday gift. Since then, they have returned year after year with their three children, sleeping over in the tents and participating in the festivities. Now, Katie’s father, Raymond Sullivan, a retired general surgeon, is Glover’s Regiment’s camp surgeon. “I love the excitement from the crowd,” Tim Sullivan said, adding that the music he heard at the reenactments inspired him to take fiddle lessons. Around 600 people visited the encampment throughout the day, hailing from all over New England. Lynn Dixon, who attended the event, said she was visiting the area from Florida and stayed an extra day to check it out. BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW
Laurie Rantz from Middleborough demonstrates how people prepared and spun wool on her portable “traveler” spinning wheel.
The Affordable Homes Act, signed into law in 2024, allows one accessory dwelling unit, or ADU, by right on most residential lots across Massachusetts. While municipalities may adopt reasonable regulations, they cannot require a special permit for qualifying ADUs. “The Planning Board really can’t deny the ADU,” Community Development and Planning Director Brendan Callahan said. Marblehead adopted its own ADU bylaw before the state law took effect. This spring, Town Meeting approved amendments intended to bring the local bylaw into compliance while preserving local oversight through Planning Board site plan review. At a July 14 Housing Committee meeting, Callahan acknowledged that town staff, Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals are still working through the new approval process. “We’re all learning right now,” he added. ADUs created within an existing home’s footprint have generally been straightforward to review, according to Callahan. More complex proposals involving additions often require zoning relief before receiving Planning Board approval, raising questions about the proper sequence of reviews. Callahan said the town is revising its online ADU application to make the approval process clearer for homeowners. Callahan is also considering updating the town website and creating educational materials to explain the new rules. The town’s website contains outdated information from the previous bylaw, Callahan said, including an obsolete maximum ADU size. The amendments approved by Town Meeting are still awaiting review by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office. Housing Committee members said the process needs more clarity and public education. “I think it’s just a matter of getting people in the same room, making sure that there’s alignment around the application process ADUs, P. 7
From left, Trooper Simon Brown, Capt. John Langan, Cpl. Dylan Brown of the 16th Queen’s Light Dragoons, sporting Italian and Japanese-made muskets.
»“The Indispensables” author puts human face on history. Page 7 Patrons participated in guided tours through the camp to learn about 18th-century ways of life, including medicine from camp surgeon Raymond Glover and candlemaking from Kathleen Pondelli. Pondelli, from Somerville, joined the Glover Regiment nine years ago and annually demonstrates candlemaking. Marblehead resident Pam Crowell, who had attended
the event for years, said she loved Pondelli’s handmade candles and had bought a “lifetime supply.” Katey Corrigan from Beverly demonstrated 18th-century laundry practices at the encampment. One of the major diseases at the time spread through fleas, she said, so women who joined the soldiers to do their laundry played a crucial role. Corrigan’s table included a bucket hanging from a wooden stand, representing how women would boil GLOVER, P. 7
CURRENT PHOTO / LEIGH BLANDER
From left, attorney Matthew Wolverton and architect Craig Bosworth show updated plans for a proposed ADU on Maple Circle at a July 14 Planning Board meeting.