Old Brick Path (1729)

The Old Brick Path is the traditional name of an historic eighteenth-century house in Marblehead, which for many years in modern times contained a gift shop called the Brick Path. Built in 1729, it is one of the few brick colonial houses in town. It was the home and shop of Thomas Robie, a loyalist merchant, who held secret Tory meetings there during the Revolution. Robie was eventually forced to flee with his family to Nova Scotia in 1777. As explained by Samuel Roads, Jr. in his History and Traditions of Marblehead (1880):

In later years the house became the residence of Major Joseph W. Green, who for nearly thirty years was one of the most enterprising merchants in the town. A few years after the close of the War of 1812, he engaged in business with Benjamin Porter, under the firm name of Porter & Green. In a short time this firm employed fourteen vessels in the fishing trade, besides brigs and packets which were sent to New York and the West Indies. Their wharves and ware-rooms were filled with every commodity used in fitting out vessels for sea, and it is said that at one time they furnished seventy-five vessels with stores, anchors, cables, wood, and supplies of every kind necessary for a long voyage to the Banks. Through the influence of Major Green, the Grand Bank was established, and he was its first president