Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Valley of the Poets (the Merrimack River Valley of Massachusetts) Stretching from Amesbury, North Andover and Lawrence in the north to Newburyport at the mouth of the Merrimack, this area has spawned and supported some of the most beloved and famous of American poets. It all began with Anne, our first published poet. On June 14, 1630, Mistress Anne Dudley Bradstreet (1612 1672) first stepped into the New World at Salem from her ship, the Arbella. Never again did she see her beloved England.