Savvy Sightseer - tips and insights for seasoned travelers!
Lobster pots are dropped on the sea floor, attached to a floating buoy marking the spot. Each lobsterman’s buoys are color-coded and uniquely patterned, which must be registered. No two lobster hunters are allowed to use the same buoy configuration.
The 90' Schooner Thomas E. Lannon was built in 1997 in Essex, MA. It was designed by Capt. Harold A. Burnham, whose family has been building boats in Essex since 1650.
Cape Ann, MA: America's Maritime Legacy
America was built on maritime trade, and today, the harbors of Massachusetts's northeast region, Cape Ann, sport all kinds of sailing vessels, including: whale-watching boats, lobster and river boats, and tall ships that harken back to the area’s roots. Even nearby Salem Harbor has been recognized as one of the most important seaports in 18th century America.
Since Cape Ann was settled in 1623, its coastal communities have become household names; some featured in films: Manchester-by-the-Sea, Gloucester, Rockport and Essex.
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History on the Cape and surrounding areas is recorded in superlatives: oldest seaport, birthplace of the US Coast Guard, launch of the country’s first revenue cutter, the only church steeple in the nation that’s also an official navigation aid and the US’s first lighthouse. It’s where the first lobster trap was invented and the first fried clam dish was offered up.
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Over time, Cape Ann developed a dual personality of sorts, becoming a mecca as well for artists, including some noted distinctly American painters like Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper. And it is home to one of the oldest continuously operating art colonies in the United States. Adding to the region’s list of superlatives - it’s also where you will find the building most often captured by artists and photographers in this country, the oddly named Motif #1.
Map of Cape Ann
Rockport
At the very tip of Cape Ann is the town of Rockport, which today some consider is the quintessential New England coastal town. It started out as a thick forest, the major source of the region’s timber exporting and ship building business. When that became depleted in the mid to late 1700s, homesteaders started moving in, and another natural resource luckily came into play to boost the economy - granite. By the 1830s, Rockport’s quarry industry was on the rise with granite being shipped up and down the eastern seaboard, for such uses as part of the Holland Tunnel, Brooklyn Bridge and West Point Military Academy in New York; the fountain bowls in Union Station Plaza in Washington, DC, and for paving several big city streets. One record shows 200K Rockport paving blocks were delivered to New York City. In 1840, the residents broke from Gloucester and the rest of Cape Ann and the town became, named by popular vote, Rockport.
In the mid to late 1800s, artists started converging on one of the most picturesque areas: Rocky Neck, forming an Art Colony, recognized today as one of the oldest working art colonies in the country, a lure to artists for more than 150 years.
Click on the picture above for a slideshow of Rockport and Rocky Neck.
As the demand for granite ebbed in the early 1900s, Rockport reinvented itself yet again, this time as a thriving artist colony and summer tourist destination. A common subject for fledgling artists was a fishing shack by the harbor, dubbed Motif #1 for its popularity. It is said to be the most reproduced subject of artwork, appearing even in movies, on magazine covers, postage stamps and TV commercials. The burgeoning art community created challenges for local fishermen, pitting the two groups against each other. There are reports that at times fishermen would come back with their haul, only to find they couldn’t unload it because the docks were filled with artists and their easels.
Gloucester
Prime fishing sites lie all around Cape May, and the region became entrenched in the fishing industry. One of the more famously known towns is Gloucester, considered to be the birthplace of the US fishing industry and our oldest fishing seaport. It is home of the Gorton’s of Gloucester fish company, one of America’s oldest continually operating companies. The business’s roots go back to a small fishing enterprise founded in 1849 by John Pew, which later merged with and took on the name of Slade Gorton’s fishery. The company's famous logo is a take-off of the “Man at the Wheel” by Rocky Neck artist A. W. Bueller. Gloucester is also known for one of the region's many maritime tragedies - the loss of six men on the Andrea Gail, who were headed back to this port at the end of October, 1991. Their fateful trip was immortalized in book and film as “The Perfect Storm.”
Click on the pictures above for a closer look at Gloucester.
More Coastal Scenes
The scenic stretch of shore along Massachusetts Bay, from Salem to Gloucester, should look familiar to many – Hollywood loves to use the towns of Salem, Beverly, Marblehead as well as Manchester-by-the-Sea & Gloucester in its films. The list is pretty long & includes: The Perfect Storm, Hocus Pocus, CODA, & of course the self-titled Manchester-by-the-Sea starring Casey Affleck, though for some reason, the production company dropped the town’s hyphens, originally added with “by the sea” in 1989 to differentiate it from Manchester, New Hampshire.
A most unusual lighthouse system is over in Beverly. Working in tandem with a local Church, the Hospital Point Light Station is the only naval navigation aid in this country employing a steeple in its system. When a navigator lines up its light in conjunction with the steeple’s rear, higher light, the captain has a clear visual guide to safely traveling through the middle of the channel.
Click on the picture at the right for a closer look.
For more details about the amazing Cape Ann area, check out my video or in--person presentation through your local library or community center. For a listing of programs and places I'll be, check my Programs page.
