At the time of European contact and colonization, the area north of the Merrimack River was inhabited by the Pentucket Tribe of the Pennacook confederation.

[4] Several places in Amesbury retain or have been returned to indigenous names including the Powwow River and Hill, and Lake Attitash.

[5][6] In 1637, the first English settler in the Salisbury-Amesbury region, John Bayly, crossed the Merrimack River from the new settlement at Newbury, built a log cabin, and began to clear the land for cultivation.

[8] On September 6, 1638, the General Court of Massachusetts created a plantation on behalf of several petitioners from Newbury, on the left bank of the Merrimack, as far north as Hampton, to be called Merrimac.

[11] The settlers of the plantation, who entered Massachusetts Bay Colony, were rebels in a cause that was settled by the English Civil War (1642–1651).

[16] On January 12, 1641, a town meeting ordered the first roads north and west of the Pow-wow River to be built.

[17] On April 21, another meeting granted William Osgood 50 acres of "upland" and 10 of "meadow" along the Pow-wow River, provided he build a sawmill for the town to use.

[18] The Powwow River provided water power for a subsequent mill complex.

[18] In 1643, the General Court divided Massachusetts Bay Colony into four counties: Essex, Norfolk, Middlesex and Suffolk.

[19] Norfolk contained Salisbury, Hampton, Haverhill, Exeter, Dover, and Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth).

[20] Private occupation of the west bank of the Pow-wow River went on as East Salisbury citizens sold their property and moved to New Town.

[25] The burden of attending church several miles away became so great that New Town built a new meeting house and requested the General Court to find a preacher.

[26] The town was unofficially incorporated, meaning a government was constituted and officers elected, on June 15.

[27] After King Phillips War (1675–1678), an effort by the natives to rid themselves of the colonists, the Royal Province of New Hampshire was created and took away several towns in northern Norfolk shire.

The Court dissolved Norfolk Shire, transferring Salisbury and Amesbury to Essex County.

[20] Beginning as a modest farming community, Amesbury developed a maritime and industrial economy.

[34] Beginning around 1800, Amesbury began building carriages,[35] a trade which evolved into the manufacture of automobile bodies.

[41][42] In 1886, West Salisbury was annexed to Amesbury, unifying the mill areas on both banks of the Pow-wow River.

[45] In 1996, the town changed its status to a city, and adopted the mayor and municipal council form of government, although it retained the title "Town of Amesbury", as voters "thought Amesbury was too small and quaint to be a city".

The community has several buildings that feature early architecture, particularly in the Federal and Victorian styles.

[49] The "Doughboy", a memorial sculpture by Leonard Craske, stands on the front lawn of the Amesbury Middle School.

[51] There is also a monument erected to Josiah Bartlett, the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, who was born in Amesbury.

Once the site of Indian gatherings, or "powwows", it has views to Maine and Cape Ann.

Amesbury lies along the northern banks of the Merrimack River and is bordered by Salisbury to the east, Newburyport to the southeast, West Newbury to the southwest, Merrimac to the west, and South Hampton, New Hampshire, to the north.

Amesbury's high school football rival is Newburyport; the two teams play against each other every Thanksgiving Day.

[72] The Public Library houses an extensive Local History and genealogy collection which is open and available for research.