Year: 2011

This 1951 photo (courtesy of Cynthia Kennedy Sam of Annisquam) is of one of the famous Annisquam Fish Class catboats in a race (which Annisquam won).  The original Fishes were first built in 1921 by Nick Montgomery at the Mongomery Boat Yard in Gloucester, and were used as class boats by several Yacht clubs in the area, including the Annisquam Yacht Club, Conomo Point and Eastern Point/Sandy Bay Yacht Club.  Montgomery built 80 Fish boats the first year.  There have been close to 1,000 built since then.  The last Fish was built in 2006 for actress, Lindsay Crouse, who has a home in Annisquam; however, you can still have one built if you’d like to order one. 

The second photo is of the seven-ton concrete mold, made by Nick Montgomery in the winter of 1920, which was still used to form the Fish boats up until about six years ago. 

The third photo is of the workshop where the boat building takes place.  The Montgomery Boat Yard, now a third-generation business and one of the oldest family boat yards in New England, is located at 29 Ferry Road on Montgomery Cove (so named in honor of the 100 years of operation of the boat yard in 2008). 

Third generation boat-building Montgomery, David, is also a gifted artist.  He and members of the Cape Ann Artisan’s Group have a group exhibit at the Sawyer Free Library through March.  The last photo is of David in his studio with some of his work.   Check out the Library exhibit.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

For those GMG readers who may not have seen this response to my Harp seal post, and have encountered or may encounter a harp seal, Mendy from the National Marine Fisheries Service writes:

Hi E.J., thank you for posting your great photos! I am the regional Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Coordinator for NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. I wanted to chime in an let you (and the GMG readers) know that we are documenting an increase number of adult harp seals this year, not just in MA, but along the eastern seaboard down to NC. We haven’t seen this number of adult harp seals for almost 10-years. While this particular seal looks healthy and happy, I do encourage folks to report any sightings or strandings to our local network partner, The Whale Center of New England (978-281-6351). NOAA, in collaboration with a network of organizations, document sightings and stranding trends to monitor the population’s health and distribution. Check out our website for more information: http://www.nero.noaa.gov/prot_res/stranding/.
Cheers,
Mendy

Linn Parisi invited Dawn Gadow and yours truly to give a talk about social media and it’s importance to marketing local tourism related businesses at the next DMO Mug Up.

Here are the details from Linn-

Hey Joey-
 
Discover Gloucester is having a Mug Up/Tweet Up for all tourism biz people so they can learn how to use Twitter, FaceBook and blogging as a communication/info tool for their businesses.
The guest gurus of the evening? None other than GMG’s @Joey_C and Art Haven’s Dawn Gadow! For real!
Takes place on Tuesday, March 15, 5:30P at the new TheatreWorks Cape Ann, 1 Washington Street, above Giuseppe’s, with thanks to host Henry Allen.
 RSVP info@seaportgloucester.org. Bring your laptop, phone or iPad and be prepared to get started!
To quote the Master (Joey!): “Tourism people: Facebook, Trip Advisor, and twitter are taking over.  Get on board or let the competition eat your lunch.”
Well put, Joey!  Thanks to you and Dawn for sharing your knowledge and for the gentle kick in the ass.

I was hoping you guys could help me spread the word about a fundraiser we are doing to
support the GFAA in their efforts to get Newell Stadium re-furbished. For every $10 donation
made to this effort you will be entered into a raffle to win breakfast for a year at George’s Coffee Shop.
One lucky winner will be entitled to full breakfast for two once a month for an entire year. A $10 donation
is a small favor to ask to help get this field done and one person gets an added bonus. Tickets are available
at the shop or through various GFAA members. Please spread the word and help us get this done,
 
                                           Thanks,  Dean

I forgot to mention in my post yesterday about Harp seals, that this one was basking on a dock on Lobster Cove, and he was spotted by the eagle eyes of Martha Bentley of Annisquam.  I had been wanting to get a shot of a harp seal ever since I had seen one on the ice behind Richdale’s one day when I didn’t have my camera with me.  I was really thrilled to see this one so close up, and grateful to Martha for spotting him, coming to tell me about him, and going with me to check him out.

E.J. Lefavour