200th Anniversary of the Invasion of Sandy Bay

Join author and historian Anita Sanchez for a detailed account of the 1814 Attack on Rockport. The Invasion of Sandy Bay: The Attack on Rockport in the War of 1812 is free for members or with Museum admission. Reservations can be made by calling (978)283-0455 x16 or by email to [email protected].

In August, 1814, British troops invaded Washington, DC and burned the White House. Then, only two weeks later, they invaded Rockport, Massachusetts. The invasion was on a much smaller scale with a cast of dozens instead of thousands. Nonetheless, it was a real-life comedy of errors, in which the attackers sank their own vessel and the defenders were caught napping. Eventually the Royal Navy and the Sandy Bay fisherfolk found themselves joining forces against a common—and unexpected—enemy.

Anita Sanchez is an educator with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. She works with the public, from preschoolers to senior citizens, schools, and adult groups, providing educational programs on natural and cultural history. Anita loves to travel in the wilds of the United States, as well as to more remote places around the world. She has ridden camels in the Sahara desert, dived the Great Barrier reef of Australia, participated in an Earthwatch expedition to the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, and has travelled in England, France, Spain, and Greece. She lives in Amsterdam, New York, with her husband and two sons.