MARBLEHEAD — Ciara Barber, of Worcester, was wide-eyed and energetic inside Abbot Hall Monday afternoon as she toured the building with Town Moderator Jack Attridge.
Since July 1, the 8-year-old has been on a mission with her family.
Barber has embarked on the Town Hall Project, setting out to visit all 351 town halls in Massachusetts alongside her mother, Blue Barber, and her uncle, Adam Barber.
From spinning around in one of the Select Board chairs, to staring up at the original “Spirit of ’76” painting, to taking a trip up to the bell tower on top of Abbot Hall, she was amazed with everything she saw, as were her mother and uncle.
“It’s a cool hall,” Ciara Barber said when asked about her impressions of Abbot Hall.
She added that she enjoyed all of the paintings in the building.
The idea to embark on this journey, according to Ciara Barber and her mother, started at a restaurant when the lottery screen appeared on the television. The screen showed that there were 351 municipalities in the state.
“My uncle was like, ‘Nope, nope, that cannot be real,’” Ciara Barber said, referring to Adam Barber, who lives in California.
On Google Maps, he created a map with every single city and town in the state, and got Blue Barber to agree to visit each town hall this year.
Marblehead is the 188th town hall they have visited so far.
“We stopped by on a weekend and took her picture out front,” Blue Barber said. “Then, Jack (Attridge) reached out to us and we were like ‘Yes, please! We want to go inside, we want to see what’s going on in there.’”
Ciara Barber and her family were also accompanied by Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer and Police Chief Dennis King, who gave her a police sticker and patch that the officers wear on their uniforms.
Blue Barber said the three of them have learned a lot since starting the tour.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “We’ve learned a lot of history about different places and different town halls and the different architecture. It’s been very cool.”
When asked what her favorite part about visiting Marblehead was, Ciara Barber said “history,” which the town is not short on. She also said “meeting people” is her favorite part of visiting the different towns and cities across the state.
Kezer commented on the experience of getting to host an 8-year-old so eager to learn about the town and its history.
“It’s great that she’s doing this,” Kezer said. “It benefits her a lot and her family to do this. I say it equally benefits us, to have this moment to show off who we are and to give good cheer to a young lady like that.”
Earlier in the day, the three were in Salem getting a tour of the Salem Records Vault. Blue Barber said that they will be coming back to see a number of other communities in the area at some point, and will finish back home with other town halls just outside of the Worcester area.
Ciara Barber’s trip can be followed on Instagram @town.hall.project.
