Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts. The population was 39,862 at the 2000 census. A resort, residential and manufacturing community, Beverly includes Beverly Farms and Prides Crossing.
Beverly is located on the North Shore, 17 miles northeast of Boston, and is home to Endicott College and Montserrat College of Art.
Originally part of Salem and the Naumkeag Territory, the area was first settled in 1626 by Roger Conant. Because of religious differences with Governor John Endicott, Beverly would be set off and officially incorporated in 1668, when it was named after Beverley in Yorkshire, England. Surviving from the settlement's early history is the Balch House, built about 1679.
Beverly is bordered on the east by Manchester-by-the-Sea, on the north by Wenham, and on the west by Danvers. To the south, on the other side of the Danvers River, is Salem.
