Gloucester Harbor

Monday, 21 July

The famous bronze memorial was unveiled in 1923.

They that go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD and his wonders in the deep. Psalm 107, 23-24 – inscription on the Gloucester Fisherman’s Monument

When a city traces its roots to 1623, it probably has a right to call itself “America’s first seaport.” And almost everything about Gloucester, MA—in its history and still today—is tied to the sea.

The iconic statue that stares out to the Atlantic across Western Harbor remembers the fishermen known to be lost at sea, a total of 5,368, most recently in 2011. In 1879, a single storm claimed 159 men.

The former Burnham’s Railway now is home to a museum that preserves the city’s maritime history.

City streets all seem to lead to the waterfront from which a small fleet of schooners still sails daily from the pier at Maritime Gloucester, a museum that includes railroad, dory shop, dive shop and extensive exhibits to capture the city’s past.

The waterfront spreads before the watchful eye of a sculpture of Fitz Henry Lane, poised on the hill where a small park now surrounds his modest granite home. Lane was a 19^th century watercolorist, the first of many well-known artists—Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper, among them—who drew inspiration in Gloucester. The tradition continues with the dozens of artists based in studios on Rocky Neck.

The first Unitarian Church in the US stands tall on a city hill.

Seafaring continues as a central theme, too, with the many workboats that bring the day’s catch to Gorton Foods and as seen in weekly episodes of National Geographic TV’s “Wicked Tuna.”

The reality series “Wicked Tuna” features the crew of Hot Tuna.

A handful of sail yachts—some foreign-flagged—lie at anchor in the inner harbor. Recreational boats of all kinds move about, too. But for this colorful harbor is built by and for “those who go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters.”

Steadfast out.