Table of Contents
Get calm, useful Marblehead news in your inbox — meeting coverage, public safety notes and community events, all in one place. Our free newsletter is easy to sign up for and easy to read. Sign up for our once-a-week newsletter.
A new sign at the corner of Maple and Lafayette streets announces the town’s name in burgundy serif letters, flanked by granite posts and an image of Marblehead’s Glover regiment rowing Washington across the Delaware.
The 4-by-8-foot panel, installed this fall, replaces a wooden sign that had stood at the gateway since 1992. That earlier version, designed and built by Jim Shay, a past president of Marblehead Rotary, is now in storage while the town’s Historic Commission considers whether to place it in the sign museum at Abbot Hall, according to Jack Attridge, who coordinated the replacement effort and runs the All Marblehead Facebook page.
You’re able to read this because 63 ’Headers — support The Independent with recurring monthly or annual contributions. It costs about $80,000 a year to run, and roughly 95% goes straight to journalism. If you’ve been meaning to support this work, join today so we can reach 100 contributors by year’s end. 🟦 Click here to become an Independent member.
The project began during Don Dowling’s tenure as president of Marblehead Rotary Club and required approval from the town’s Recreation and Park Department. What followed was a sequence of donated services and volunteer labor that involved multiple contractors and tradespeople working on different components of the installation.
Peter Schalck, who runs the design firm Flat Rock creative and owns Marblehead Mercantile, said Attridge approached him about the project after the old sign began to rot. Schlack had known Attridge for years but hadn’t anticipated the commission. He came into Schlack’s store one day and asked if he would do it.
“I was thrilled to be asked, and I’m super proud,” Schalck said.
Schalck estimated the design work took three or four hours. He created a few different versions and passed them back and forth to Attridge, who circulated them among colleagues for feedback. The design process involved testing different color schemes and layouts before settling on the final composition.
Schalck said he looked at the old sign and wanted something close to it. One early version featured a red background with white letters, similar to the original. He was working with red, white and blue colors because of the town’s connection to the birthplace of the American Navy. Eventually he shifted to a white background with burgundy text.
The centerpiece bears the phrase “Birthplace of the American Navy.” To the right, “Est. 1629” marks Marblehead’s founding date. The town seal sits above the lettering in a separate piece at the top.
The central image depicting Glover’s regiment comes from Schlack’s own artwork. He had recently painted a whale for the Marblehead Arts Festival that featured General John Glover’s schooner and a painting showing Glover’s regiment. He photographed that whale artwork and enlarged it for the sign. The rest of the layout work was done in Adobe Illustrator.
The material is J bond, which Schalck described as printed aluminum on both sides encapsulating a plastic core. A vendor that does sign work for Schalck fabricated the panels. The material is designed to resist the corrosion and warping that caused the wooden predecessor to fail.
Tucker architecture developed the original plan for the sign’s construction, Schalck said. Jeff Tucker was involved when Attridge approached Schalck about the project. Justin Epstein installed the concrete pillars, though Schlack said he wasn’t sure where the pillars came from and thought they were either donated or left over from another job. Erick Attridge fabricated the mounting brackets. Chris Kennedy handled removal of the old sign debris and other tasks. Attridge said Marblehead Rotary Club paid for the granite and sign production costs and will install lighting in the spring.
Attridge posted about the project on his All Marblehead Facebook page, listing everyone involved in the effort.
Schalck operates Flat Rock Creative as a separate entity from Marblehead Mercantile, though his office moved from the Mudd Puddle Toys building to the mercantile location when the store opened. He does design work for the store in addition to his other clients.
Marblehead Mercantile, 132 Washington St., now sells miniature replicas of the sign made from the same J bond material. Schalck said he recently got them in for the Christmas season. One version is license plate size and another is slightly larger, sized for dorm rooms or offices.
