Day: July 20, 2023

Cape Ann Trail Stewards,  which protects and improves access to open space and trails across Cape Ann, is the recipient of a $10,000 donation from 100 Who Care Cape Ann. The funds will be used to expand their work in Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester and Essex.  

Cape Ann Trail Stewards  helps to maintain existing trails, improve access, and support the responsible and safe use of the Cape Ann Trail network and recreational areas. The volunteer Board of Directors and on-the-ground trail stewards are supported by a part time, paid Operations Director. 

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“Our primary focus is on helping municipal landowners and conservation organizations protect, maintain and expand Cape Ann’s trail network, while working to provide more equitable trail access to a wider range of the local community. We match volunteer trail stewards to trails in need of stewardship, and organize public trail work days throughout the year.  We also provide information, maps, and trail blazes for people to be able to safely navigate the trail system, and we offer free guided hikes year-round for those who may not be comfortable venturing out on their own, or who prefer to hike with a group,” says Amy Blondin, Operations Director.  ”We rely on volunteer support and donations from our members and others who want to help maintain and improve the amazing network of trails we have on Cape Ann.”

 

100 Who Care Cape Ann (www.100whocarecapeann.org) is a giving circle of 100+ local women who each contribute $100, meet quarterly to learn about local organizations that support the Cape Ann community, and vote on the charity that will receive their collective $10,000+ donation. Cape Ann Trail Stewards is the fifteenth recipient of funds. Since the organization was started four years ago, almost $200,000 has been donated to the Cape Ann community. Other organizations supported include Wellspring Education Resource Collaborative, Backyard Growers, Gloucester Education Fund, Gloucester Emergency Relief Fund (via Action, Inc.), The Grace Center, Cape Ann Kids Holiday Fund, Generous Gardeners, The Cornerstone Creative, Together Gloucester, Cape Ann Art Haven, Maritime Gloucester, The Sunrise Fund, and Cape Ann Animal Aid.

Red Hot…

Bill Wrinn submits:

Less than three weeks until the historic production of “Gloucester Story,” a musical based on the Russel Crouse Award-winning play by Clayton B. Stockbridge, will be performed alongside the schooners on the docks of Maritime Gloucester Aug. 10-13.

Now is the time to get your tickets!

Part of the greater Gloucester 400+ birthday celebration, “Gloucester Story” brings you back to 1905 when the schooners still ruled the fishing fleets and it was a strong reality that you might not return. It reflects the fishermen, businessmen, and their families of that era and the personal struggles they endured around the Harbor. It also has the element of romance and tragedy.

Originally written as a play, the Annisquam Village Players will transform the work into a musical for the first time. Musical pieces from local musicians, Corey Wrinn, Daisy Nell, and Peter Souza have been incorporated into the show along with some other familiar salty tunes.

Free tickets are available on the AVP website at www.AnnisquamVillagePlayers.com/tickets-to-gloucester-story. And when acquiring your tickets, please be sure to remember the major sponsors in the Gloucester community who are making this happen:

Andrée Robert of Engel & Völkers, Cape Ann Savings Bank, Seashore Comfort Solutions, the Gloucester 400+ Committee, and Maritime Gloucester.

A little history about the show…

In the summer of 1952, as the Cape Ann Festival of Literature and Drama was launching its inaugural event, Broadway playwright/librettist and Annisquam summer resident Russel Crouse agreed to sponsor a new challenge:  A contest for “the best play about Gloucester by a resident of Gloucester.”

A year later, “Gloucester Story,” a two-act play written by Clayton B. Stockbridge (1895-1973), a plumber, emerged as the winner of the first Russel Crouse Award. (In 1954, the second and final Russel Crouse Award was given to Brown University professor and Annisquam summer resident S. Foster Damon for his play, “Witches of Dogtown.”)

The play was performed in Gloucester several times that summer and in subsequent years. For a short period of time, it became a popular pick for summer stock theatres. Various tweaks of the script occurred through the years.

The story line, set in 1905, revolves around a 21-year-old son and his interactions with his family, his girlfriend, his fellow sailors, and the sea. It is entirely fictional but the names, businesses, and plot motivations dealing with the folklore are all factual.

It is a dramatic story of the fishing vessel Artemesia, which was lost at sea, and the conflict between the desire of a life at sea and the business of fishing.  It involves a schooner vessel and a business owner’s son who wishes to crew on the vessel in order to have the life experience at sea and not be confined to a business life on shore.  The son has resistance from his parents and fiancé in his quest to go to sea, and as a result becomes a part of the tragedy which strikes.   

Clayton drew this story from his youth working on the docks of Gloucester Harbor during the age of the dory fisherman, incorporating popular Captains, local businesses, and the superstitions of the time. During that period, as other maritime cities of Massachusetts were devoting their resources to the Clipper ship trade or whaling, Gloucester chose fishing as its major contribution to the American economy.

As the industry grew, there were three outstanding developments that Clayton took into account when creating “Gloucester Story.”

One of these was the Schooner

The need for speed, maneuverability and seaworthiness, made it mandatory to improve upon the slow, clumsy pinnaces and shallops used in the early years of fishing. From the time the first schooner slid down the ways of the shipyard at Eastern Point in 1713, its place was assured among fast sailing vessels. The highest accolade that could be conferred on a schooner was to be called “fast” and “able.”

Another was the Dory

In 1793 Simeon Lowell of Amesbury had designed and built what he called a dory and, at the time, proved to be the most seaworthy small boat ever devised. Although only sixteen feet overall with a fourteen-foot flat bottom, it could hold close to two tons of fish – in addition to its two-man crew – without swamping. And they could be nested on a vessel’s deck so that several took no more space than one. It answered all of the requirements of the Gloucester trawlers and, after word got out, it was adopted by all of the world’s deep sea fishing fleets.

Up to the time of the invention of this type of rowboat, bank fishing had been done by hand from the vessel’s deck, but now the dory made it necessary for the crew to leave the vessel in small rowboats to set and haul in the fish.

Most of all the people

The last and most important of this trio is the people who made the others possible.

Youth from foreign countries back then, especially Canada, were attracted to Gloucester by the magnetism of the sea. The Gloucester fishermen became a breed apart. The navigational feats of the captains by dead reckoning were recognized throughout the Seven Seas. The fortitude, stamina and determination of the fishermen will never be excelled.

Some of their deeds are legendary. Without modern equipment such as sonar, radar and radio, the blinding fogs, sudden squalls and the unpredicted gales of the North Atlantic made bank fishing a most hazardous calling. During one five-year period, one hundred men were lost from just dories alone.

These men were extremely superstitious. Misfortune followed the breaking of taboos so often, that the superstitions were implicitly believed and taken for granted. The validity of the dream as an omen of disaster was one of their strongest convictions.

Through the scenes, Clayton strives to show a small picture of this era — forever gone— that typifies the heritage of the sea which is so uniquely Gloucester’s, and how some of these people lived and how some of them died.

Performances start at 7 p.m. Enjoy the show!

Looking forward to having these 3 sport athletes competing for another year as Fishermen

Some of our hardworking fishing vessels returning to the harbor on a recent afternoon. They include Amanda & Andy III, Jen & Christi, Dunlin, Meredith Jean, Nicole Jean and My Grace. Thanks to Susan and Leo for the prime viewing spot!