NEWBURYPORT WATERFRONT – The arrival home of a clipper ship in the early days of this city meant not only great wealth for locals, but also that fathers and brothers were returning home after months at sea. In 2025, the arrival of Aaron T Stephan’s clipper ship...
Stewart Lytle

Stewart Lytle is the lead reporter for The Town Common newspaper. Before joining The Town Common, he was a national correspondent for Scripps-Howard Newspapers in Washington, D.C., covering the Pentagon and Congress. He has also written for newspapers in Dallas, TX, and Birmingham, AL.
As a national reporter for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain, Stewart wrote the inside story on military life of soldiers and sailors and their families. He landed on aircraft carriers, experienced oxygen deprivation for high-altitude flight training and crawled through the mud with Marine snipers.
One of his proudest achievements outside of journalism was assisting USAA Chairman Robert McDermott in securing federal legislation that mandated air bags in vehicles.
Stewart is also a novelist and has written non-fiction books. He is currently working on a non-fiction book and screenplay about an incident that occurred in Boston.
His first novel, Iron City Conspiracy, explores power in a city. It features a black newspaper editor solving the bombing of a historic black church in a tough Alabama town.
Following in the footsteps of his idol, Ernest Hemingway, Stewart has completed a new novel about a love affair in the midst of the Spanish Civil War. The book, Montserrat, is based on a true story and has been made into a screenplay that will become an international feature film.
A graduate of Phillips Academy and Princeton University, Stewart lives with his wife, Mary, in Newburyport.
Clipper Ship Arrives on the Waterfront
NEWBURYPORT WATERFRONT – The arrival home of a clipper ship in the early days of this city meant a lot to the maritime economy. Now, the arrival of Aaron T Stephan’s clipper ship sculpture on the waterfront, heralding the city’s past, is likely to draw cash-totting...
NEWBURYPORT Adult and Community Education (NACE)
REGIONAL – Looking for a fun, maybe life-enriching experience this summer. Try learning to make pottery or fulfill that childhood dream of shooting a bow and arrow. There is always try your hand at watercolors or decoupage oyster shell art. Maybe you wish you knew how...
GEORGETOWN: ‘Nice Way to Start’
GEORGETOWN – Like many towns this spring, the Georgetown SelectBoard last week chose one of its own to be its chair for the next two years. But while most town organization meetings are cordial, get-acquainted sessions, Georgetown’s was highly contentious with the...
Support for New Whittier Campus Grows
REGIONAL — Whittier Regional Vocational Technical School has moved closer to getting the state to help build a new building on the campus of Northern Essex Community College (NECC). Ipswich and Rowley have agreed to sign a letter committing to help fund a feasibility...
GEORGETOWN, ROWLEY, SALISBURY … Tax Overrides, New Leaders Approved
REGIONAL – Voters were in a spending mood this spring as they approved property tax overrides in several towns at Town Meetings and at the polls. They also approved overrides for the Triton Regional School District’s budget and a debt exclusion to build a proposed...
The Pink House Backers Honored For the Fight
NEWBURYPORT – The Pink House was demolished March 11 by its last owner, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, but the community continues to recognize the efforts of the non-profit group of indefatigable volunteers, the Supporters of the Pink House (STPH), who tried...
IPSWICH, GEORGETOWN, ROWLEY, and BOXFORD Town Meetings Face/Faced Tough Decisions
REGIONAL – Town Meetings have been busy this spring approving large and small changes. In Ipswich, Water Department Director Vicki Halmen told the Ipswich select board that the estimated cost of the new water treatment plant has increased from $35 million to $50...
AMESBURY: Enjoy the Merrimack
AMESBURY – The city of Amesbury is planning to improve its access to the Merrimack River. The Washington Landing Boat project will include shoreline restoration and revitalization of the Washington Landing Maritime Support Facility building a boat ramp, the addition...
NEWBURYPORT: Fighting in the Library Stacks
NEWBURYPORT – It may seem a little surreal to have library employees and volunteers battling for the right to reshelve books and materials. But that was what was happening until the volunteer program was stopped two years ago. Now, Melissa Murray, a partner in the...
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