Marblehead, town (1990 pop. 19,971), Essex co., NE Mass., on the Atlantic coast; inc. 1649. A fishing village for many years, Marblehead became a resort in the 19th cent.; it is especially famous for yachting. There are 18th-century buildings in the picturesque town, including Elbridge Gerry's birthplace. Abbot Hall contains Archibald Willard's Spirit of '76. In Old Burial Hill cemetery are the graves of hundreds of Revolutionary soldiers and a monument to the 65 Marblehead seamen who died in 1846 when a hurricane overtook the fishing fleet. The Revolutionary War Fort Sewall is in a seaside park.
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