How well do you know Beverly?

Thanks to the organizers of the Beverly 400+ Trivia Night, we now have the ultimate test

By the authority invested in me by no one, I am hereby declaring the following the best compilation of trivia questions about Beverly EVER.

The questions were compiled by the volunteers who put on the Beverly 400+ Trivia In the Round Night, which was held last Friday at North Shore Music Theatre as part of the year-long celebration of Beverly’s 400th anniversary.

The event featured 21 teams and six rounds of questions. After six rounds the score was tied between The Panthizz (Mayor Mike Cahill, Tachou Dubuisson-Brown, Gina Dubuisson, Matt and Kelly Lauranzano, Tom Alexander) and City Council Team 1 (Julie Flowers, Danielle Spang, John Mullady), setting up a tiebreak question.

Flowers and Mullady came on stage for City Council Team 1 while Cahill and Alexander represented The Panthizz for the tiebreaker: “Long before they played to sold-out arenas across the world, the band Aerosmith played to a bunch of 17- and 18-year-olds in the Beverly High School auditorium. What was the year of that show?”

Flowers and Mullady guessed 1972. Cahill and Alexander guessed, correctly, 1973, giving The Panthizz the win. The team dedicated their first-place prize of $500 to local Beverly nonprofits.

OK, now the questions. The answers are listed below. Good luck.

ROUND 1

1. Early colonial leader Roger Conant had a different name in mind for the settlement that came to be called Beverly. What was it?

2. Scenes for this 2016 film starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams were shot at Fibber McGee’s.

3. There have been three U.S. Senators from Beverly: George Cabot, Robert Rantoul Jr. and this third man, who later became the vice presidential running mate of Richard Nixon and was the longest-serving U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

4. Which Beverly native helped the Team USA men’s hockey team win a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan?

5. Which landscape architect designed the rolling landscapes of the Moraine Farm Estate?

6. The poem “Old Ironsides,” written in 1830 as an ode to the American warship the U.S.S. Constitution, was seen as the key reason the ship was saved from being decommissioned. It is now the oldest commissioned ship in the world that is still afloat. What one-time Beverly summer resident penned the poem?

7. What was the name of the rock club — a popular haunt for such bands as The Fools, Barrence Whitfield and the Savages, and Til Tuesday — that once stood on the spot now occupied by the restaurant Kitchen Table?

8. At least five residents of what is now Beverly were accused of witchcraft in the Salem trials of 1692. The unfortunately named Dorcas Hoar was one. Years earlier she’d gained a reputation for fortune-telling, harassment and burglary. A frequent target of Dorcas’ ire was the local reverend whose house still stands today, operated as a museum by Historic Beverly. What was that reverend’s name?

9. The Loeb Estate in Prides Crossing was long owned by William Loeb, the ultra-conservative publisher of what New England newspaper that had an outsized influence on presidential campaigns?

10. For 31 years, this actor has portrayed Ebeneezer Scrooge in the North Shore Music Theatre’s production of “A Christmas Carol.”

ROUND 2

1. Years before winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, this artist made a notable 1992 appearance at Endicott College.

2. Hospital Point got its name after a hospital was established there in 1801 to quarantine patients during outbreaks of what disease?

3. In October 1919, nearly 1,500 fans gathered at Beverly High School’s ball field (now Cooney Field) to watch barnstorming Red Sox players. Which legendary slugger launched a home run into the tall right-field grass?

4. A bank robbery scene for the 1968 film “The Thomas Crown Affair” was shot at Beverly National Bank in the North Beverly Plaza, and a car theft scene was filmed in front of Woolworth’s. Who were the two stars of that film?

5. The steeple light of the First Baptist Church and the Baker Island Light are part of a three-light range system established in 1927 to help guide ships safely into Salem Harbor. What is the third light?

6. Beverly’s dog park, located near Beverly Airport, is named for former Mayor Bill Scanlon’s beloved golden retriever. What is the name of the park?

7. Beverly-born scientist Dr. Rita Colwell became the first woman to direct the National Science Foundation and discovered that filtering water through cloth could remove bacteria and reduce the instances of what communicable disease?

8. Which fish market, which opened on the Beverly waterfront in 1959, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic after more than 60 years in business?

9. This horror author — and Beverly High School graduate — wrote the novel “The Cabin at the End of the World,” which was made into a 2023 film directed by M. Night Shayamalan.

10. This Beverly brewery named a beer after an actor famous for his roles in “Moonlighting” and “Die Hard.” We need the name of the brewery, the name of the actor, and the name of the beer.

ROUND 3

1. This Beverly resident was a 22-year-old Marine Corps Reserve Corporal when he was killed on Sept. 16, 1951, in a battle in Korea. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor, for single-handedly fighting off a nighttime attack after all of his fellow Marines had been killed or injured.

2. This Beverly-born comedian, known for playing big, dumb guys, was most recently seen as part of the cast of the rebooted TV show “Frasier.”

3. Long before he became a Hobbit, a young Elijah Wood shot several scenes in a Beverly home for what 1993 movie?

4. Who was the first American president to visit Beverly?

5. As of late 2025, this department store had more than 1,200 stores at locations across the United States and Canada. It got its start here in Beverly.

6. Barb Fecteau did Beverly proud as a two-time contestant on the quiz show Jeopardy. What is her day job?

7. Before he led the Washington Post through the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate era, this famed newspaper editor was a copyboy for the Beverly Evening Times.

8. What two entertainment venues can be found off Wallis Street?

9. Twenty-eight historic paintings from Beverly helped to illustrate a 12-hour series on the American Revolution from a team including what famous American documentarian?

10. Soon after his Beverly home was featured in a segment of this long-running home improvement show, this homeowner was asked to become its host, a position he’s held since 2003. We need the name of the show and the name of the host.

ROUND 4 (photo round)

ROUND 5

1. Residents of what Beverly village attempted, unsuccessfully, to secede from the town four times between 1886 and 1890, citing high taxes, poor representation, and opposition to expanded public transportation?

2. Briar Blush of Beverly was a contestant on the most recent season of what long-running TV reality series?

3. This Civil War hero and Supreme Court justice spent his summers in Beverly from 1909 until his death in 1935. Mocking Manchester residents who referred to their town as “Manchester-by-the-Sea,” this jurist had his stationary printed with the return address “Beverly-by-the-Depot.”

4. This Beverly neighborhood was originally developed as housing for employees of the United Shoe Machinery Corp.

5. Beverly-born Frederick Ashworth served as a U.S. Navy officer during what famous World War II mission?

6. The MomBall softball tournament began in 1999 as a community-building event. It quickly evolved into a friendly competition between city schools that raises much-needed money for the Beverly Public Schools and other local charities. Which school’s moms have won the tournament the most times?

7. Beverly Airport served as the stand-in for Alaska’s Sitka Airport in what movie?

8. This show, held at The Cabot, once held the Guinness World Record for the longest-running stage magic show in the world.

9. No matter what Marblehead says, we all know Beverly is the birthplace of the American Navy, thanks to the armed schooner that first set sail from Beverly Harbor. We all know that schooner was the Hannah, and that it was involved in a skirmish with a British sloop in October of 1775. What was the name of the British vessel?

10. In 2013, Kaminski Auctions of Beverly held an auction of art, antiques, home furnishings and signed memorabilia by what television personality?

ROUND 6

1. When biologists “rescued” Shoebert from Shoe Pond at the Cummings Center in 2022, they realized they had rescued him once before, back in 2018. What name did they give him then?

2. What famous author, known for such works as “Rabbit Run,” “Couples” and “The Witches of Eastwick,” lived in Beverly Farms?

3. What 2013 movie, starring Kate Hudson and John Hamm, filmed a scene at the North Shore Music Theatre?

4. What former Beverly High School basketball coach was the 1950 rookie of the year for the Boston Red Sox?

5. Before he played the opening ceremony of the 2012 summer Olympics in London, this singer-songwriter played a 2009 set in a Beverly backyard that you can buy on a 7-inch record from Bridge Nine Records. What is his name?

6. This local industrial giant was founded in 1899 as a conglomerate of several existing firms. Over time it grew to manufacture industrial machinery far outside of its original scope, making armored vehicles and gun turrets alongside innovations like the hot glue gun and soda can pop top. What was the name of the company?

7. In which of the following sports has Beverly High School NOT won a state title — boys lacrosse, golf, gymnastics or boys basketball?

8. Name the four streets in Beverly named after Ivy League colleges.

9. Boston has long been known for stealing credit for inventions and innovations on the North Shore and elsewhere. But one particularly rankles, as that city takes a nickname from what product first widely manufactured in Beverly?

10. President William Howard Taft rented two different Beverly residences, where he spent summers enjoying our cool breezes and giant bathtubs. The first home was located on the Evans Estate (now Lynch Park). What was the name of the second estate, which he leased from Mrs. Robert Peabody?

ANSWERS

ROUND 1

1. Budleigh, after his home town in England

2. Manchester-by-the-Sea

3. Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

4. Stu Irving

5. Frederick Law Olmstead

6. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

7. Grovers

8. The Rev. John Hale

9. The Manchester Union Leader

10. David Coffee

ROUND 2

1. Bob Dylan

2. Smallpox

3. Babe Ruth

4. Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway

5. Hospital Point Light

6. Paddles Park

7. Cholera

8. Rowands

9. Paul Tremblay

10. Old Planters, Bruce Willis, and Spruce Willis

ROUND 3

1. Joseph Vittori

2. Jimmy Dunn

3. “The Good Son”

4. George Washington

5. Marshalls

6. Beverly High School librarian

7. Ben Bradlee

8. The Larcom and Off Cabot

9. Ken Burns

10. “This Old House” and Kevin O’Connor

ROUND 4

1. Nate the Great, Aubuchon/Dawson’s

2. Organic Garden Cafe

3. “The Tender Bar”

4. Peppy

5. Briscoe Middle School

6. Central Park

7. Zeke

8. Beverly Bootstraps

9. Cummings Center

10. Ralph’s Market

ROUND 5

1. Beverly Farms

2. “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

3. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

4. Shingleville

5. Dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki

6. Ayers Elementary School, eight times

7. “The Proposal”

8. Le Grand David and His Own Spectacular Magic Company

9. The Nautilus

10. Oprah Winfrey

ROUND 6

1. Jekyll

2. John Updike

3. “Clear History”

4. Walt Dropo

5. Frank Turner

6. The United Shoe Machinery Corp.

7. Boys basketball

8. Yale, Cornell, Dartmouth and Princeton

9. The Beanpot

10. Parramatta

One last question: Who was responsible for putting all this together?

Answer: Co-organizers Susan Whitelocks (left) and Stacy Gooding and quizmaster David Olson.

Photo by Erinn Kiley