![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.iwu.edu\/johnupdikesociety\/files\/2023\/02\/Choate-Bridge-Pub.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nWhen John Updike first moved to Ipswich he wrote in a home office at the Polly Dole House, but then found an office above The Dolphin restaurant. There he composed many of his acclaimed literary works, including Of the Farm<\/em>, Rabbit Redux<\/em>, “A & P,” “Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu,” The Centaur<\/em>, Couples<\/em>, Midpoint<\/em>, A Month of Sundays<\/em>, and Bech: A Book<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While in Ipswich, Updike also helped write Something to Preserve: A report on Historic Preservation in America’s best-preserved Puritan town, Ipswich, Massachusetts<\/em>\u2014published in 1975 by the Ipswich Historical Commission, of which he was a member. Now that same commission will erect a plaque commemorating Updike’s literary impact and contributions to the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Ipswich Local News story “Ipswich finally gives Updike his due”<\/a> by Trevor Meek (Feb. 24, 2023), on Friday, April 28, the commission will unveil a commemorative plaque on the Caldwell Building at 15 South Main St., where Updike wrote in “the now-vacant suite #5 on the second floor” in a “smoky office.” Michael Updike told Meek, “We’d visit him often, in the days when you could still walk around town unsupervised as a six year old. A lot of times, we’d go there as he was about to have lunch at the Dolphin restaurant.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Dolphin closed down many years ago, but in its place is the Choate Bridge Pub, “located directly below suite #5.” The pub will host the celebratory event, which will feature a reading of “A & P” (a store no more, but a building still to be seen in Ipswich). In addition, a special menu will include Updike’s preferred lunch, which Michael said was “a pastrami sandwich with a side of pea soup.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rachel Meyer, treasurer of the IHC, said that there might even be an Updike cocktail available for the event, one named after Updike’s The Witches of Eastwick. <\/em>But the IHC is “still negotiating the finer points of the event with the pub.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n The April 28 event will give Updike fans an excuse to travel to Ipswich and also enjoy seeing the exterior of the Polly Dole House, the old A & P, the setting for “The Hillies,” and the site of the first church in Ipswich that featured so prominently in Couples<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Updike’s work defines this town,” Meyer said. “It’s part of a greater literary legacy too. This is one of the places that Anne Bradstreet\u2014America’s first published poet\u2014lived.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" John Updike made Ipswich internationally famous, and the small north shore town near Boston will acknowledge his impact on April 28, 2023 with a plaque and celebration. When John Updike first moved to Ipswich he wrote in a home office … Continue reading