ABOUT

Merrimac is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States.The population was 6,338 at the 2010 census.According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.8 square miles (22.9 km²), of which 8.5 square miles (21.9 km²) is land and 0.39 square miles (1.0 km²), or 4.48%, is water.

History
Settled by the English in 1638 as a part of Salisbury and later as a part of Amesbury around the village of Merrimacport, it was known throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as an agricultural and fishing community, with a small amount of shipbuilding. When Amesbury separated from Salisbury in 1666, Merrimac was referred to as the West Parish of Amesbury, or simply West Amesbury, although it was unincorporated. When a border dispute between the Massachusetts and New Hampshire colonies was settled in 1741, the new border sliced off the parts of Amesbury that were further from the Merrimack River, with the area then associated with West Amesbury becoming the "new town" of Newton, New Hampshire.In 1876, Merrimac, including Merrimacport, separated from Amesbury and officially incorporated itself as a town.