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.