Rockport, Mass. & Gloucester

[johngsandusky]

I'm going up for the long weekend. Recommendations?

[ahp]

We were members of the yacht club in Rockport for several years. Nice club and very active. Rockport is very touristy, but photogenic. Bring you own bottle. Rockport is dry.

[Thad]

I don't believe it's dry any more. Take a ride on the schooner Thomas Lannon or the Appledore III. There was also a blue whale reported off Gloucester this week so whale watches might be especially interesting. The Cape Ann Historical Society, Gloucester, has a great collection of Fitz Henry Lane paintings as well as Howard Blackburn's Great Republic.

[Lance F. Gunderson]

Take a stroll around Rocky Neck in Gloucester. I second the vote for a ride on the Lannon. Take a drive along Atlantic Ave to view Twin Thatcher's light. Some serious sleuthing may lead you to Phil Bolger, or Joe Garland, who is always entertaining. If you like fishing boats you'll find them in Gloucester.

[al ailsworth]

Does anyone know if Nick Appolonia and his Alden Malabar Sr. are still in Rockport?

[Anthony Zucker]

If you have the time to go a few miles north, Essex has the Story boat yard and a small museum and it's next store to Woodmans, home of the best fried clams.
The next town is Salem with a great nautical museum and lots of witch memorabilia. If you have bad weather, the Essex museum will save your trip

[Thad]

Weather should be nice. We could go sailing!

[elf]

Does anyone know if Nick Appolonia and his Alden Malabar Sr. are still in Rockport?

Isn't Nick the guitar builder?

Malabar II was at the Gaff Rig race three weeks ago in Vineyard Haven.

[coelacanth2]

Mom grew up on Rocky Neck, her house wasthe last thing before you went into the inner harbor. Up for a visit a couple of years ago, met the lady now living there. My grandfather's seawall is still holding up the yard - built it himself, according to mom, some of the rocks are huge. He was also one of the fishermen who posed for that iconic statue dedicated to "those who go down to the sea in ships". Again, mom says those are his hands on the wheel.
Anyway, the lady was telling us that they had liked the area so much that they purchased several other houses along the street for their kids. One of them needed quite a bit of work, so they rehabbed it. apparently the construction was rather interesting...to say the least...:D... origionaly had been rather modest but had grown by accretion into a rather large place, but no two rooms were built the same, under all the plaster. some were conventional stickbuilt, some were timberframe, some were just board and batten, nailed crudely together, all about the same size 10x15, 12x20, etc. and spiked and bolted to each other. The house had been owned and built by a fishing schooner captain . He was in the habit of coming back from the Banks close inshore, and when he spotted a hunting/fishing shack alongshore, he'd swing in, and sway it onto the back deck with the mainboom and proceed home ... with a hold full of cod and a new room for the house. Nexw high tide, back the schooner up too the bottom of the street, swing it onshore and run it up the street on rollers. Honey, ya know that new kitchen you've been wantin'?
Can you just see the expression on the face of some poor French Canadian, coming back to his shack only to find it missing?:D

[coelacanth2]

A few years before that, Mom and Dad and I went up there for the day. Probably 16 years ago. Mom drove there, I was to drive home after dark. As we were pulling into town, she starts laughing so hard, she almost puts us into the ditch. My Dad asked her what was so funny, she points to a new development and replies,"That" with another bout of the giggles. It was a walled, gated community of McMansions - not in the style of the area at that time - with the monicker"Ye Olde Nugent Farme" in Ye Olde Englishe Letteres. Mom revealed that , when she was a girl, it was just Nugent's piggery. Moreover, it was downwind from the LePages glue factory and Gorton Pew's codfish drying racks (now Gorton's of Gloucester :D) and you didn't want to bee anywhere near the place on a hot day...:eek:

[blacksmith]

While in Gloucester, visit Adventure, the restored dory fishing schooner. Restoration is nearing completion, and the joinery is great. Also, see the statue of the Gloucester Fisherman and the listings of the thousands of men lost while fishing on the banks.

[Michael s/v Sannyasin]

probably too late but for future reference the Cape Ann Motor Inn is reasonably priced and sits right on a beautiful beach. Just turn left at the dairy queen when driving south from Rockport to Glouchester.

[johngsandusky]

Thank you all (especially Thad).
I'm just home, left before most of these suggestions, but I had a GREAT time. Cape Ann is very lovely, almost unbelievable. We rented in Pigeon Cove from a really nice woman. I brought the canoe and paddled Sunday morning. I loved Gloucester. The dories at the Maritime Heritage Center, paintings and artifacts at Cape Ann Horistorical Society. I did go to Essex and visit the museum, just for a walkthrough to look at the boats, got into a repair conversation with a carpenter. Met a lot of nice people. Jane thought it might be the best place we've been. I highly recommend it.