DANVERS - The chemical plant explosion one week ago today impacted a lot of Danversport families, but none more so than the Lynches.

The Lynch family has lived in that waterfront neighborhood for a half-century. There are four Lynch family homes on Riverside and Bates streets, the connecting streets that suffered the most damage from the early morning blast. In all, about a dozen family members, including matriarch Ruth Lynch, 79, were uprooted and forced to relocate.

The good news is nobody was seriously injured.

The even better news is most of them are back together, staying at the Marriott Residence Inn on Route 1 north with many other families from the neighborhood.

"We've been scattered," but "we've decided to regroup," said John Lynch, 51, who is there with his fiancee, his two daughters and a future-son-in-law.

Several family members have been there since the accident, while others moved in earlier this week.

"I needed to be together, especially with the holiday coming up," said Laurie (Lynch) O'Neil, 52, who is sharing a suite at the Residence Inn with a daughter, while her son, his wife and their 20-month-old toddler have their own suite downstairs. "I just felt like I wanted to be with my kids ..."

Ruth Lynch and her late husband, Edward John Lynch, raised 13 children at 28 Bates St., which is now Laurie's home. Many of the kids moved all over the country, like Brian, who drove back from Maryland when he heard the news on his car radio. He stayed at the Residence Inn for a few nights this week.

Several Lynch family members pointed out they are hardly a novelty in the neighborhood. There are generations of other families there, as well, like the Parkers and the Walors.

That's what makes the Danversport neighborhood special, they said. Generations of the same families and longtime neighbors.

"We're a very close neighborhood," Laurie O'Neil said. "Everybody is concerned about everybody else."