Peggy’s House, a Cape Ann Cottage: Photographs by Robert Lerch

The Cape Ann Museum is pleased to present Peggy’s House, a Cape Ann Cottage, a photographic series by Robert Lerch. The one-day exhibit will take place at the White-Ellery House on Saturday, June 6 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The White-Ellery House is located at 245 Washington Street in Gloucester at the Route 128 Grant Circle Rotary. This program is free and open to the public.

Peggy’s House is a collection of photos, primarily interiors, all taken in one particular house in Annisquam. Built in 1761, “Peggy’s House” is one of only 65 or so known surviving Cape Ann cottages. Typically referred to as a story and a half with a gambrel roof, it was the vernacular house of the time. During the Colonial period, approximately 350 Cape Ann cottages dotted the coastline around the island, and were home to the many families who made their livelihood fishing and farming.

Robert Lerch said of working on this project, “I am fortunate and grateful that I was given the opportunity to photograph inside a very special Cape Ann Cottage, within the current owner’s daily living space.”

Robert Lerch is a contemporary fine art photographer who has owned and operated a gallery on Bearskin Neck in Rockport for 35 years. His work is sensitive, soulful, and full of substance. He uses all found material and works only with natural light.

The White-Ellery House, located at 245 Washington Street in Gloucester at the Route 128 Grant Circle Rotary, was built in 1710 and is one of just a handful of First Period houses in Eastern Massachusetts that survives to this day. Unlike other structures of this period, the largely unfurnished house has had very few interior alterations over the years. Stepping inside today, visitors enter much the same house they would have 300 years ago. The historic home will be open this year on the first Saturday of June, August, September and October as part of Escapes North 17th Century Saturdays. Parking is available off Poplar Street in the field behind the house.