August 24, 2026 Gloucester, Mass.

 Monday and Tuesday Aug. 24-25, 2026  Salem Mass to Gloucester, Mass. 14 miles and 1.8 hours

Next stop on our historical tour of Massachusetts is the fishing village of Gloucester.  Can just about see to their harbor from Salem.  Short run up the coast.  Nice sunny day, little swell but barely noticeable.  Martha drove the entire trip.  My duties were to untie the line from the mooring ball in Salem and grab a new ball in Gloucester.   Had some apprehension about Gloucester's harbor.  There's an inner harbor and two outer mooring fields.  All open to the southwest which is the forecasted wind direction for the next two days.  No need to worry as we got a prime ball in the inner harbor.  Not too swelly unless one of the fishing boats comes through a little faster than the posted 5 mph limit - which they all seem to do.   All settled in by 1 o'clock. 

Hammond Castle outside of Gloucester. Built between 1926 and 1929 as a home,
laboratory and museum for John Hays Hammond Jr.  A prolific inventor
with over 800 patents for 400 inventions largely dealing with remote control. 
 He was also an avid collector of medieval artifacts. Now a museum.

Multiple lighthouses guard the entrance to Gloucester harbor

Old Manufactory Building across the harbor in Rocky Neck

Still an active fishing village with vessels of all shapes and sizes

Hail the free launch service for a quick trip to the town wharf and start exploring.  The Maritime Gloucester Museum is right at the town dock. Contains info on the shipbuilding and repair industry that supported the commercial fishing industry the town is famous for.  Ships from here went in search of cod and haddock on Georges bank off Cape Cod and up to the Grand banks off Newfoundland.  The city is considered America's first seaport with a history now dating back over 400 years. The town is still an active fishing port with vessels of every type and style - large and small and continues to have several processing facilities.  Gorton's Seafood of Gloucester has been in business since 1849 with headquarters and a processing plant still in town.  You know Gorton's by their iconic "Man at the Wheel" fisherman.  While growing up, many a Friday night meal during lent in our house consisted of their frozen fish sticks.  My usual plea to mom "Can I just have the mac and cheese please?"

View to the town wharf and the sailing ship Adventure. 
 Two smaller ones are used for daily tourist tours

Nice floating docks at the town wharf

Just not very forgiving when the tide goes out.

"Man at the Wheel" statue commemorated in 1926 in celebration of the
 towns 300th anniversary.  Gordons Seafood used it for their iconic logo.

Very elaborate city hall attested to the town's wealth

Fitz Henry Lane built this 3 story house in 1849 as his home and artist studio 
overlooking the harbor using the locally quarried granite.

Tuesday back into town and a visit to CAM (Cape Ann Museum).  Started over 150 years ago.  Reopened after a major remodeling. Information regarding the town's fishing heritage was expected but also found out they were famous for their granite quarries starting in the early 1800's through about 1935.  Their granite was particularly hard and used as cobblestones for street paving in many US towns.  The granite curbing you see in older towns historic districts was another product that came from these quarries.  All came to a screeching halt quickly as towns found paving streets with cement was quicker, cheaper and smoother

In the park where his home sits there is this statue of Fitz
depicting him working on a sketch of harbor activities.

Cape Ann (which includes Gloucester and surrounding areas) was also an active summer artists' colony.  The museum had a special display of artwork from three artists who worked closely during summers in the 1930's and 1940's here - Milton Avery, Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko. Much of the exhibit focused on their sketches and paintings showcasing the local area but also showed how dramatically their style and paintings changed over the next few decades into large modern art pieces. I kind of found their development story more interesting than some of their artworks.  

Interesting statue of the Gloucester Sea Serpent.   Numerous sightings
 have been reported over the centuries with surprisingly similar descriptions. 

Early 1920's Milton Avery picture showing the impressionistic 
oil painting style favored by the art colony at the time

During the 1930's and 1940's his style had morphed to 
 watercolor paintings depicting time at the beach.   
By the 1960's he was painting large abstract canvases in bold colors.

The permanent exhibit they are known for is the works of Fitz Henry Lane. He was a local artist, built a granite house on top of the hill overlooking the harbor and was known for his finely detailed paintings primarily of ships and harbor scenes.  Most of his work was done from 1830's to 1865. I have a hard time understanding most modern art so really enjoyed close up inspection of his realistic art.  Seeing the detail and finesse of every brush line. 

Picture of Gloucester from across the harbor.  Town being cast in white light was
 a style he incorporated in numerous landscape paintings of towns

Some of his ship paintings were fascinating for the level of detail.
Every rope for the sails intricately laid out and finely drawn 

On first glance it seems like a landscape picture.  Then the 
sailor looking over his beached ship comes into focus.

Part of the museum contained information on local history. Two of the displays of interest were the carved Virgin Mary statue that once stood atop the catholic church between two bell towers.  She's holding a ship in her arm instead of the infant Jesus.  It was a very noticeable landmark for fishermen who saw her giving well wishes for a safe voyage or glad tidings at their safe return.  The other item of interest was the story of Howard Blackburn.  At age 24 in January of 1883, he was fishing off the coast of Newfoundland setting lines in his dory when a storm came up and separated him from the schooner Grace L. Fears.   He spent 5 days rowing in the cold open Atlantic before finally landing in Newfoundland where a local family took him in and nursed him back to health. Frostbite was so severe he lost all his fingers and several toes.  He eventually returned to Gloucester as a hero.  Unable to fish he opened a successful saloon, The Blackburn Tavern.  Growing restless, he sailed twice single-handed across the Atlantic.  Once in 1899 and again in 1901.  The 25 foot Gloucester fishing sloop Great Republic used in his second crossing is also on display.

The much larger than life hand carved statue of Mary holding a ship

The church now has a more durable fiberglass copy of the carving

Portrait of Howard Blackburn.  Diorama below him shows all the different
sizes and styles of sailing fishing boats used over the years in Gloucester

The 25' Great Republic used by Howard Blackburn on his second Atlantic crossing.   
Made it to Portugal in just 39 days.

A fun visit and productive use of the day.  About it for today.  Well, I did get a haircut.  After 3 months I was overdue as things were getting a bit bushy.

We never got any decent sunsets while here, so I'll leave you with one more of Fitz's paintings

Here's the detail from the bottom left corner

Journey for August 24, 2026

August 22, 2026 Salem, Mass.

 Sat. and Sun. August 22-23, 2026   Boston Mass to Salem Mass.  24 miles and 2.9 hours

More tight maneuvering to get out of our slip at Constitution Marina but we made it out without damage to us or anyone else. Always a good start to the day.  Weather isn't ideal.  Overcast, chance of light rain, winds from the NE.  Slow out of the no wake zone of Boston Harbor.  Follow aside a container ship out the harbor for a bit until he takes a turn to starboard out the main channel. We make a slight turn to port and head straight into a bit of short period swells. Knew it would be a bit rougher but thankfully a shortish run up the coast to Salem. 

Passing the megayachts on our way out at the downtown Boston marinas

Ever Fond veers off headed south for her next stop - per AIS, it's Baltimore

Get to the harbor which has a mostly NE facing opening so not flat calm but doable.  Call the marina for our mooring assignment and they send a skiff out to take us through the mooring field to our assigned spot.  Would never have found it ourselves as markings are pretty small.  Decent spot a bit further back in the harbor.  Get settled in, short nap and call the launch to run us into town.  Late afternoon so some things like the National Parks buildings are already prepping for closure.  Little walkabout and then sample flights at the two breweries in town.  Nothing overly impressive.  Back to the boat for dinner.

In the 1800's Custom Houses like this one collected tarrifs on imported goods.
 

Derby Wharf stretches over 2,000 feet into the harbor.  At one time
 it was lined with warehouses holding imported goods waiting
 to be counted or weighed by Customs employees.

The Narbonne House was built in 1675 and is one of 12 buildings
on the Salem Maritime National Historical Park property. Families lived
here until 1965 when it was sold to the Park Service

Into town Sunday for serious tourist duty. Seems like there are 2 distinct factions in town.  The history buffs and the witchies.  For history buffs this is the birthplace of novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne of "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of Seven Gables" fame.  Both these houses are now museums.    Lots of other history as a shipping port, seafood port and industrial center. Salem Maritime Historic Site is a National Parks area which includes numerous buildings, a wharf, the sailing ship Freedom. Good job describing the heyday of Salem when it was a major import center of goods for the West Indies Company during the 1700's. 

The house of seven gables. 

Statue of Nathaniel Hawthorne.  Interestingly, he was shunned and left Salem
 to never return after publication of "The Scarlet Letter" where his
 first chapter gave a scathing portrayal of members of the Custom House
 where he was employed for several years.

Town turned to textiles in the mid 1800's and had a good run until the great fire of 1914 burned several mills down and displaced over 20,000 residents.  Most famous mill was the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Mill which made Pequot brand sheets sold worldwide. They rebuilt the mill and continued operations until the 1950's.   Building has been repurposed and still sits on the waterfront.  The textile industry never fully recovered as the business was transitioning to the south.  The Peabody Essex Museum is part history museum and part art gallery with fascinating displays. Started by several of the West Indies merchants to display artifacts gathered from the many cultures they crossed - especially in the orient.  These merchants were some of the first ones to gain access to Japan.  The museum has an actual 1700's Chinese merchant families compound on site - The Yin Yu Tang Home. Buildings, walls, courtyard - everything. The building was painstakingly disassembled in China, shipped here and reassembled.  Unfortunately, it was closed for some renovations, so we didn't get to see anything but photos.  Other exhibits included the history of Salem, the witch trials, Japanese Art room, and Korean Art room.  They also own and maintain numerous historical homes in town. 

Museum has a bit of everything such as this original N.C. Wyeth illustration 

And this Norman Rockwell painting

The Maritime Room was loaded with figureheads and other seafaring items

Town is obviously famous for the witch trials of 1692-3. For the witchies there's the Salem Witch Museum, Museum of Torture, Monster Museum, Dungeon Museum, Salem Witch Village, etc.   All great for tourism but just seems to undermine the actual atrocity of that period where 25 innocent people died. 

A sampling of the witchy crowd...you get the idea

The old burial grounds and the witch's memorial had plenty of visitors
 but was already closed for the day as we passed by

Back to the boat once we got chased out of the Peabody Essex Museum at closing time.  Walked through town snapping pictures of their city art works.  Whereas Plymouth had those seals, here they are a figurehead mounted on light poles around town. 

I actually find her face rather unnerving
no matter how she gets painted - it's the eyes!

 Dinner was leftover Chicken Marsala from La Famiglia Giorgio's with fresh veggies from Haymarket Market in Boston.  Followed that up with a decent sunset as rain and clouds finally started moving out.

Journey for August 22, 2026

August 19, 2026 Boston, Mass.

 Wed.-Fri., August 19-21, 2026  Plymouth Mass. to Boston Mass  45 miles and 4.8 hours

Mid-morning departure.  No hurry.  4.5 hour cruise to Boston so leaving at 9:30 still gets us in early afternoon.  Awakened at 4:30 as all the lobster boats in the harbor started their motors and headed out.  Didn't take long before the silence and sleep continued. Uneventful trip. Nice day, seas overall pretty calm.  Getting used to spotting the lobster traps again.  Good practice for the even more densely packed ones we'll see in Maine.

Nice calm day.  A passing boat generated the only waves we saw all day

Bit of a cruise all the way into Boston Harbor and Constitution Marina. Usual heads up required for the speeding catamaran ferries coming from the front. behind and the side - sometimes all at once! We stayed at this marina during our trip last year.  Convenient walking distance to downtown and all the historic sights. But it is a tight marina and they pack 'em in.   Limited space for boats our size so we were glad they could accommodate us.  Just glad for a good first mate, a knowledgeable dockhand and not much wind or current during our arrival.   Long day of walking around in Plymouth on Tuesday, so decided to relax all afternoon and recoup for walking around on Thursday.  

Got us packed in pretty tight.  Wasn't much maneuvering room as we spun and backed in

Did I mention we were packed in pretty tight?

We did much more tourist sightseeing during our last visit here.  You can read about it in our blog posting from Sept. 19, 2025.   As You Wish - Our Adventures: September 19-21, 2025 Boston

Thursday we hit our favorite area - Little Italy.   Street decorated for upcoming St Anthony festival. Annual event held in the North End since 1918.  Pass by a couple of older gentlemen squabbling in Italian.  Sfogliatelle, French horn and an elephant ear pastry for breakfast at Modern Bakery - one of several outstanding pastry shops,  

Streets decorated for St. Anthony Festival

Unfortunately, the festival is next weekend after we're gone

Breakfast of Champions - fresh pastries

A slice of square pizza from Galleria Umberto.  Still run by 4th generation of original owners. Opens at 10:45 and when they're out of their famous sheet pan pizzas they close up for the day - usually well before 2 PM. Arrived too late on our last visit, but not today!  Got in line behind the other customers stretching out the door and waited my turn.  A thinner Sicilian crust that's light and airy with just a hint of crunch, good sauce and cheese.  Yummy. Worth the wait and all the hype for a whole in the wall looking place. 

Yup. Roll-up door is down and done for the day.

Walked around a bit more.  Visited the 1899 St. Leonard's Church built by the Italian Catholic immigrants and still conducting mass in English and Italian. Very elaborate and beautiful interior.  They have a garden area with statues of St. Anthony and Francis of Assisi.  Both Italian Franciscan Friars who lived at the same time during the turn of the 12th century.  More walking about. Checked out some souvenir shops and even bought a shirt and cap.  Had early dinner at La Famiglia Giorgio's.  Recommended during our last visit by a native Bostonian.  Excellent food and huge portions, so plenty of leftovers for another two meals.  Chicken Marsala for Martha and Eggplant Rotolini for John. 

Ornately decorated interior of St. Leonards Church.
The rotunda forces you to look heavenward

Incorrectly thought this was a statue of St. Francis. Actually is St. Anthony. 
 Should have known better. Francis usually has animals around him, not children

This is St. Francis.  Odd depiction as Francis
 lived 1200 years after the crucifixion.

Dinner at La Famiglia Giorgio's.  Optical illusion that my platter is smaller. 
 And these are platters - not plates!!

Friday - rain overnight and into the morning but let up by 10:00.  Gave us time to head over to the Haymarket Farmers Market.  Only open Friday and Saturday.  One of our fun experiences last trip.  Huge selection of fruits and veggies. No farmers but basically just a bunch of wholesalers selling for dirt cheap. You need to know what you want in advance as you walk up and down the aisles. Before buying anything check everyone's price.  Same package of blueberries are 2/$5, $2 or $1 depending on vendor. Walked away with a bunch of goodies.  Then walked over to the Star Market which is a regular grocery store for some other essentials. Milk, butter, bananas, bourbon, Kahlua, etc.    Took it all back to the boat, unloaded and found space in frig or freezer for most everything.

Just one vendor's stand. Probably 50+ of them overall. 

Some vendors specialized in fruits while others in veggies. 

Chilled for a bit then headed to Night Shift Brewery.  Only one within walking distance.  Seems like it disappointed us on our last visit and did so again this time. Decided that since we sampled Boston's best Sicilian pizza yesterday, we needed to sample Boston's best Neapolitan pizza for dinner.  Arrived about 5:45 to a line out the door waiting, which wasn't moving too quickly.  Decided Martha would hold our spot while I ran a few blocks away for some more pastries.   Got back with plenty of time to spare.  Took about 50 minutes to get seated in Pizza Regio's dining room.  Nothing fancy but been in business for 100 years. Excellent pizza.  Thin, brick oven baked.  Just plain cheese for us although they have a huge variety of other toppings.  The dough has just a slightly different taste which I found impossible to place. They say it's a special strain of yeast.  I just know it was good.  We're pigs - ate the entire pie.

"I can't believe I ate the whole thing"!!

Waiting line was still out the door when we left at 7:45

Lighting up the streets for us as we leave Little Italy and the North End

Back at the boat I sautéed 2 pounds of assorted mushrooms from the market trying to condense them for storage while Martha took care of a couple loads of laundry while we have the chance.  Didn't do any real touristy things on this visit other than spend time in Little Italy. Not a bad place to eat your way through for two days. Thankfully plenty of walking involved to work it all off.

No sunsets while we were in Boston. Have to make do with 
the lit up Bill Russell Bridge over the Charles River. 

Journey for August 19, 2026