Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company

In the early 1900s, and perhaps in the late 1800s, the Atlantic and Pacific (A&P) Tea Company delivered tea and other products to homes in Andover by hand carts and horse-drawn wagons. As part of a customer loyalty program A&P offered reward points for the tea their customers purchased. Once customers had enough points, A&P would give them vouchers for lots of land (Tea Lots). The Tea Lots ranged between 50ft by 70ft to 50ft to 100ft. They were mostly granted from land in Ballardvale. They were often landlocked, with no street access, and were too small to build on. Over time, some lots were combined to make buildable lots. Eventually, this program died out.

The Andover Historical Society has maps of the Tea Lots. The lots were located near South School on Woburn Street and appropriately named: Bayberry, Tea Berry and Blackberry Lanes.

See

• "When Andover land was cheaper than tea" from Andover Townsman, December 10, 2009.
• "Revisiting Andover's Tea Lots: A brewing deal," Andover Townsman, October 17, 2013, p. 11.

--Eleanor 16:38, September 20, 2011 (EDT)
--Kim 10:08, October 18, 2013 (EDT) back to Main Page