North Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 28,352. North Andover is the home of Merrimack College, a private, Catholic four-year institution. From 1646 to her death in 1672, North Andover was the home of America's first published poet, Anne Dudley Bradstreet, and her family. Mistress Bradstreet, her husband Simon and six of their children (Dudley and John were born after moving from Ipswich) helped found this original Andover Parish.