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The Select Board on Oct. 14 authorized Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer to coordinate with town officials on a date and plan for this year’s perambulation, a walk along downtown public ways meant to confirm they remain established. It must happen before the end of 2026.
Kezer told the board the requirement traces to 1641 and once obliged the selectmen to walk the ways themselves. Today, he said, the law calls for a perambulation every five years by two board members or their designees, with a $20 penalty for skipping it.
Marblehead now alternates yearly between the Neck and downtown. The Neck walk last year, which began at Chandler Hovey Park on May 10, 2025, took place, Kezer recalled, in the pouring rain.
Wheeler presented a slide listing the eight downtown ways: Lookout Court; Prospect Alley; Hollyhock Lane; the Alley Steps; Gingerbread Lane; Knights Hill Road; an alley from High Street to Elm Street; and an alley from Mechanic Street to Market Square. She said the walk would start at Abbot Hall, organized with Kezer and town historian Don Doliber. Before the pandemic, she said, the downtown walk drew upward of 200 people.
Select Board member Jim Zisson asked whether other public paths, such as one at the end of Green Street, are walked too. Wheeler said they are not part of the perambulation, which has historically covered only the Neck and downtown, and some sit on other types of town parcels. Zisson said he would follow up with her.
The board approved it by voice vote. No date has been set; officials still must choose one and finalize plans.
