GLOUCESTER

BY TERRY WEBER MANGOS

Mary A. Barker

WELCOME TO GLOUCESTER—YOU’VE ARRIVED AT THE PERFECT PLACE for breathing. We all know that fresh air is a key to health, happiness and sparking an appetite. You’ll need that appetite during your stay—with new restaurants to experience, new art galleries to inspire and new adventures to embark on. On the eve of celebrating its 400th birthday in 2023, Gloucester is one of the U.S.’s most popular coastal destinations—and home to America’s oldest working seaport—promising stunning beaches and sunsets. It’s also an ever-evolving community, and you’ll notice new shops, cultural venues and neighborhoods.

As Gloucester moves forward, it honors its past. Fishermen still head out to sea each morning and battle the unpredictable waters (the Fishermen’s Memorial will tell you more). Artists remain inspired by Cape Ann’s elusive light and strive to capture it on canvas, from dawn to dusk. Beaches and natural resources are protected and pristine. Gloucester takes great pride in its traditions and welcomes visitors and new residents to join in every aspect of its culture.

While downtown you’ll notice a bustling Main Street boasting locally owned retail shops, galleries, cafes and fine restaurants. Rogers Street, running parallel to Main, adds its own restaurants and shops, along with access to whale watching, schooner sails, and other waterfront recreation. While meandering downtown, visit the Cape Ann Museum and learn more of the city’s history, its settlement in the early 1600s and its journey to becoming one of the world’s largest fishing ports by the mid 1800s. You’ll also stand in awe at the paintings of Fitz Henry Lane, Winslow Homer and others.

History, arts and culture, the freshest seafood—and some of the best ice cream and pizza to be found—Gloucester has thought of everything. And after a great dinner, live music awaits at any number of venues.

If you’re here to relax, Good Harbor and Wingaersheek beaches, to name just two, will transport you to a calmer place. The salt air, combined with a long walk or kayaking, will restore and invigorate.

Perhaps one of Gloucester’s best-kept secrets is its off-season. Special rates entice and cooler temps are often more invigorating. Winter hiking, cross-country skiing, ice skating and bird watching will fill your days. There’s also a fascinating concentration of winter seabirds—take the Cape Ann Winter Birding Boat Trip to Stellwagen Bank. In fact, “off” season is the new “on.”

WHAT’S NEW

• Gloucester House debuts Cake

Ann café and retail shops • Harborside restaurants decklyn’s and Oak to Ember • Magnolia’s Happy Humpback

Café • Downtown’s Shore Nutrition,

Bravo by the Sea, FreshPrep360 • Cometeer Coffee at Blackburn

Industrial Park • Cape Ann Savings Bank at

Gloucester Crossing

Gloucester’s fame is founded on its fishing. It’s America’s oldest fishing port. Started in 1623 by 14 men left ashore by an English fishing ship to see if the place could support a fishing and farming outpost. The birthplace of the schooner. The setting for Captains Courageous, The Perfect Storm,

“Wicked Tuna.” But then, too, don’t forget about the granite story; the stone cut from Cape Ann quarries built the Brooklyn Bridge, after all. Or about the lineage of artists drawn by the light, from native son Fitz Henry Lane to John Sloan, Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam and Edward Hopper. And the writers and musicians and the poets, T.S. Eliot to Charles Olson to Vincent Ferrini. All of that lore—and even more, all the stories of the many people drawn to the place by its beauty and its opportunity, bringing their own values, culture, their own food and together creating Gloucester’s diverse community—are at the heart of what’s being planned for next families and groups that forged the community’s strong bonds, to the painters, writers, performers and musicians who captured its soul. The summer will bring a celebration of the city’s fishing and maritime heritage, with events and demonstrations against the backdrop of Gloucester’s majestic, deep and sheltered harbor. year as Gloucester commemorates its quadricentennial. The Gloucester community will commemorate its past, celebrate its present and look toward its future in 2023 as it marks its 400+ years of history. While the final plans are still in the works, details and updates can be found on the Gloucester400+ Organizing Committee’s website, gloucesterma400.org. Visitors can also stop by G400+ Central, the downtown headquarters at the corner of Main and Hancock Streets. Organizers are mapping out events both large and small, with three major events planned, along with smaller programs on such topics as arts or athletics, open houses and neighborhood tours, social events and tie-ins to the many exhibitions and performances by local groups that fill the city’s calendar. Of the three major events, the springtime preview will give a taste of what’s to come, touching on the many sides of Gloucester’s story, from the Algonquian people who first settled here, to the fishing and granite industries that nourished generations, to the

The fall event will delve into Gloucester’s ethnic heritage, celebrating the values, the traditions, the food and the cultures brought here by the waves of newcomers—from England, the Canadian Maritimes, Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Scandinavia, Brazil, Central America and other points around the globe—seeking opportunity in Cape Ann’s wharves, quarries and commerce. Also well underway is one of the 400+’s signature projects so far, the 400 Stories Project, inviting the community to contribute histories of the people who capture Gloucester’s spirit and heritage. The 400+ website, gloucesterma400.org, already includes a number of remembrances, both written and oral. On top of that, the Gloucester400+ Organizing Committee is partnering with other groups so that the quadricentennial becomes part of the annual events that are part of the city’s heritage, such as St. Peter’s Fiesta and the International Dory Races, both at the end of June, and the Labor Day weekend Schooner

Festival.

For more information on the plans for 400+, to volunteer or share ideas with the Gloucester400+ Organizing Committee, or to partner with Gloucester400+ on an event, go to gloucester400stories@gmail.com.

Celebrate Gloucester’s 400th in 2023

“Our People, Our Stories™,” Gloucester400™, Gloucester400+™ and The 400 Stories Project are trademarks and/or copyrights of Gloucester Celebration Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.