ENHC is moving on Monday, December 20. Please update your database with our new address: 221 Essex St., Suite 41, Salem, MA 01970. Our telephone and fax numbers will remain the same. Telephone: 978-740-0444 Fax: 978-744-6473

Calling all Explorers! This winter, experience the rich literary history of Essex County and its famous authors. On January 23, join us for brunch and an exploration of John Greenleaf Whittier's life in Amesbury. (Whittier Home is pictured to the right.) On February 19, visit the Wenham Museum for a special presentation about Ralph Waldo Emerson, followed by tea and pastries at the Wenham Teahouse.

Need to do some holiday shopping? Bring your Explorers card to The Book Shop, 40 West Street, Beverly Farms, and receive 15% off non-sale items.

Enjoy 2-for-1 admission to "A Literary Christmas" at The House of the Seven Gables this Saturday, December 18 and Sunday, December 19. For details on this event, call The House of the Seven Gables at 978-744-0991.

On September 20, the ENHC and the Coastal Trails Coalition organized an overnight stay in Newburyport for a group of nine cyclists participating in the first ECG Maine to Florida Tour. The following day, the riders passed through the ENHA on-route to Key West, where they arrived intact on November 3. The group, whose members were all over the age of 50, was the first to ride the entire length of the East Coast Greenway, a 2,800-mile urban equivalent to the Appalachian Trail. (Photo credit East Coast Greenway Alliance)

Guidelines for the 2005 ENHA Partnership Grants will be available in January on www.essexheritage.org. Funds will be made available for education, interpretation and preservation projects, as well as for archives/historical records and trails and greenways projects.

While we prepare for the next grant cycle, we congratulate grant recipients who have recently completed projects. The Essex County Greenbelt Association produced three "Get Outside" cable TV programs designed to familiarize residents with the great outdoors of the Area. Staff from Historic New England's Little Farm in Newbury and the Haverhill Historical Society worked together to provide a five- part workshop on the basics of collections care. Twenty-seven staff and volunteers from sites aound the region participated.