Representative Keenan Files Legislation to Recognize
BOSTON – Representative John Keenan (D-Salem) has filed a bill calling for the annual celebration of Arbella Day across the Commonwealth on June 12th of every year. On June 12, 1630 – and continuing through July of that year – John Winthrop and a fleet of eleven vessels and nearly one thousand pilgrims, led by the flag ship “Arbella,” arrived on the shores of Salem, Massachusetts with a royal charter incorporating the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The image of Winthrop landing on the shores of Massachusetts hangs high above the House of Representatives as part of a series of murals by Albert Herter completed in 1942 entitled “Milestones on the Road to Freedom.” Representative Keenan worked with the group Salem Preservation Inc. in drafting the legislation. The bill is currently pending release by the House Committee on Rules and is likely to be assigned to the Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development. “Salem is a community rich in history, from our founding by Roger Conant in 1626, to the arrival of the charter in 1630; from the tragic period of the witchcraft hysteria in 1692, through the great era of Salem’s maritime glory days, our unique literary legacy of the 19th century, and even to the sad days of the devastating Great Salem Fire,” said Representative Keenan, a member of the legislature’s Committee on Tourism, Arts, and Cultural Development, “It is fitting that the call to annually recognize this important historic event comes from the people of the city of Salem.” This year’s annual Salem Maritime Festival, celebrated with a weekend of events on July 16th and July 17th on Salem’s waterfront, will be themed on celebrating the 375th anniversary of the Arbella fleet’s arrival.
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