Before we dive into Northshore Magazine’s Fall Favorites September issue, let’s take a moment to acknowledge its Best of North Shore August issue. Although votes did not come in all Cape Ann for categories you thought might be a shoe-in: best beach, bakery, breakfast, burger, clam chowder, farmer’s market, art gallery, art anything (!), museum, or attraction — Gloucester and all of Cape Ann businesses receive a lot of deserved attention! Signing in to vote may be a barrier to entry for some. Still, 150,000+ votes were cast. You can check out what won in many additional categories in the 300pp monster issue.
Congratulations to Cape Ann 2016 Best of awardees!
DINE ALFRESCO – The Market Restaurant, Gloucester
FRIED CLAMS- Seaport Grill, Gloucester and Top Dog (seasonal), Rockport; reader’s choice: Woodman’s
LOBSTER DINNER- Roy Moore Lobster, Rockport; reader’s choice Woodman’s of Essex
LOBSTER ROLL- Seaport Grille, Gloucester
PIZZA- Short and Main, Gloucester in a three way tie
ROMANTIC- Duckworth’s, Gloucester
SANDWICHES- Willow Rest, Gloucester
WATERVIEW RESTAURANT- The Market Restaurant, Gloucester
HOTEL BAR- Beauport Hotel, Gloucester
CHOCOLATE- Rockport Fudgery, Rockport (seasonal)
HOTEL- Beauport Hotel
CHARTER BOAT- Schooner Thomas E Lannon
COMMUNITY WALK RUN BIKE BY SEASON – summer Twin Lobster Half Marathon & 1 mile Race, Gloucester; winter Happy Holidays Half Merrython, Gloucester; reader’s choice, Motif #1 Day 5K, Rockport
There are examples of land preservation, but featuring a watershed in 1931? Isn’t it wonderful! If you haven’t seen it in a while, it’s worth a close look. I believe that it has definitely inspired many in Gloucester.
DPW HQ on Poplar
THE FIRST CLEAN HARBOR SWIM
1979
Thank you to Deborah Cramer and Dan Greenbaum for sharing this memory and finding this Gloucester Daily Times article! This trio’s swim inspired Cape Ann’s Year of the Coast led by MassAudubon the following summer.
8/10/16 Accclaimed writer, Gloucester resident, and one of the trio that inspired the Clean Harbor Swim Sarah Fraser Robbins excerpt ( the title of her classic book The Sea is All About Us was a nod to Gloucester summer resident TS Eliot’ Four Quartets)
This captivating story walk installation within the gentle park outside the Rockport Public Library was enchanting on Rockport’s Illumination night. Along with countdowns to kindergarten and story time, celebrate children’s picture books this month with Cape Ann Reads events!
Gloucester: August 17th (WED) 1:00-2:00 PM CAPE ANN READS writers workshop for all ages led by Amanda Cook of the Gloucester Writers Center (free)
Essex: August 18th (THURS) 1:00PM. Does your boat float? (free)
Essex: Teen Activity August 22nd (MON) 6:00PM (free)
Gloucester: August 27 2:30pm (SAT) Mark your live event calendar! Just 12 more days until legendary children’s book creator Ed Emberley will be at Cape Ann Community Cinema & Stage! Caldecott winner! Published more than 100 books! North Shore artist!
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99 swimmers. 1.2 miles. Final racers coming in now. Well done all! Most were in wetsuits–I heard many comments about the water being cold. “The coldest one I remember.” I will add some information and photos here later when I’m at my office; complete results will be posted to the New England Open Water Swimming Association Facebook page. Mostly personal best athletic feel in the air, some clean connection.
First place (third year in a row)
Brian Barry has been participating since they moved here in 2002
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8/10/16 Accclaimed writer, Gloucester resident, and one of the trio that inspired the Clean Harbor Swim Sarah Fraser Robbins excerpt ( the title of her classic book The Sea is All About Us was a nod to Gloucester summer resident TS Eliot’ Four Quartets)
Good afternoon Joe! I am throwing a drag performance event at The Cape Ann Cinema and Stage on August 19th. I was wondering if GMG could assist in putting out the the good people of Gloucester. There will be drag queens of comedic, burlesque and sexy grandeur. Other special surprises as well. I have left the link to buy tickets directly through Cape Ann Cinema as well as the official flyer! Hope this message finds you well and take care.
There’s still time to register for the annual Celebrate the Clean Harbor Swim which will be held at Niles Beach Saturday morning. Swim or raise a toast–there is so much to celebrate.
Swim to celebrate Gloucester’s clean water
Swim to celebrate the moments people help*
Swim to celebrate a history of ongoing conservation
Swim to celebrate the guys on the DPW crews
Before it was Celebrate the Clean Harbor it was… clean it.
Thirteen year old Elinor Doty swam a mile and a half in 29 minutes, ahead of 16 other swimmers in 1979. The race was in tribute to John McPhee, head of Gloucester Sea Scouts. “We tried to get swimmers who knew John McPhee,” said race organizer Jim Doty, Elinor’s father. “I’d like to make it an annual event if I can swing it…”
“Rounding out the field of 17, was 68 year old Sara Robbins, who was surprised by an unexpected visitor during the middle of the race. “The grey harbor seal popped up beside me to show me a two-pound flounder that he had caught,” said Robbins, who has been training a half mile each day for the past two weeks. “I’m not too fast but I get there.” She said she used the side stroke during the whole course.”
Gloucester Daily Times
Doty came in first place again in 1980 when the swim morphed into the ideal kick off event for Cape Ann’s Year of the Coast. Because of water quality, several parents wouldn’t let their children participate. “And only two are from the Cape Ann YMCA, James Doty notes, which usually supplies more contestants.“
1979
Water pollution was rarely mentioned if at all before the Cape Ann Year of the Coast, an undeniable avalanche tipping point. One 1980 article has a picture of Sarah Fraser Robbins, Sarah Evans and Chandler Evans. The 8 year old was ceremoniously passed from boat to boat and then dropped in so three generations could swim across the finish line. In 1981 organizers reminded people that they didn’t need to complete the swim, they could jump in and swim across the finish line in support. I wonder if that tradition was maintained?
1980 swimmers besides the Evans clan and Doty–Gloucester residents, unless otherwise stated: David Hayden (2nd place), Karen Hartley of Dorchester (3rd place), Andy O’Brien of Rockport, Barry Hallett Jr, Darrell Hallett (swam part way alongside his brother), Kay Rubin, Polly Doty of Dedham, Jack Crowley of South Weymouth, Carl Blumenthanl, Chris Lovgren of Gloucester, Stan Luniewicz, Bill Jebb representing Sea Tec, Steve Haskell Sea Tec, Sharon Kishida Sea Tec, Earl Kishida Sea Tec, Jan Childs, Chris Sanders of Rockport, Chris Vonalt of Rockport, and Sam Rugh.
Councilor Carolyn O’Connor led a brief awards ceremony. I love the quip recorded in Laura Meades 1980 sports report Hardy Swimmers Keep Heads High: “As they went on, the swimmers shouted encouragement to one another and checked their progress. “What’s ahead of us?” asked Steve Haskell of SeaTec Inc, a diving firm. “A couple of 8-year olds,” replied SeaTec’s owner, Bill Jebb, swimming beside Haskell.”
1980
1980
I hope DPW feels proud that their work protected us, Gloucester’s famous harbor, our legacy.
Before the waste water treatment facility was built in 1984, untreated waste (sanitary, storm water, industrial, you name it) was discharged directly into the inner and outer harbor. Gloucester was not alone. Rockport, Essex, Beverly- there were many North Shore stories. I wish I knew the name of every person that did the necessary retrofitting and water treatment labor. They dug up roads, laid pipe, cleaned up messes, dealt with outfalls, extended sewer lines, requested a decontamination shower and changing area (1978) so they wouldn’t have to wash up at home, engineered, mapped, and monitored what was necessary to bring us from a crisis by 1980–and lawsuit– to where we are now in 2016. DPW continues to address storm water pollution, also mandated, and will make next year’s compliance deadline. (Gloucester is not unduly impaired by industrial waste like some other communities that will feel the pinch.) Thanks to Larry Durkin, Environmental Engineer, DPW, and Senator Tarr’s office for pouncing on MBTA’s pesticide spraying.
To paraphrase the famous George M Cohan quote: My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my brother thanks you, andI will add that my children thank you, future generations thank you, wildlife thanks you, businesses thank you, truly all of Gloucester thanks you!
**I grabbed material for this post from GDT headlines thanks to Sawyer Free Library. Newspapers on microfilm are available in the Reference Department. I am not alone in dreaming of the day when Gloucester archives, Gloucester Daily Times, and other essential research are digitized. I tend to repeat this ongoing plea.**
Catherine Ryan
It’s not one person, event or decade that stands out. There’s an incredible timeline of care. Who would you add? part 2
Water in the headlines this week, followed by a few more past headlines.
Boston Globe -The other Cape’s Cape Cod’s big drinking problem: When you live on what’s essentially a sandbar, pollution, septic systems and political roadblocks add up to one tough challenge, by Barbara Moran
“Though 194 public water supplies with higher-than-recommended chemical concentrations are located in 33 states, three-quarters of the toxic water supplies are in just 13 states: California, New Jersey, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, Georgia, Minnesota, Arizona, Massachusetts and Illinois.”
Drinking water contamination with poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) poses risks to the developmental, immune, metabolic, and endocrine health of consumers. We present a spatial analysis of 2013–2015 national drinking water PFAS concentrations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) program.
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Happy to see Cape Ann included–thanks Cape Ann Chamber for putting up the flag.
Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester, and Essex are listed together under Cape Ann as a destination for plein air painting. I enjoyed reading and comparing. The first town listed, Jeffersonville, VT, has vivid detail. Cape Ann has history and scenery coming together at every turn.
I might have added that Cape Ann has been the home of the world class Cape Ann Museum, two renowned associations devoted to the advancement of art – the North Shore Art Association and the Rockport Art Association-, one of the country’s oldest continuously active and iconic art colonies on Rocky Neck, and scores of artists and galleries, because it is the number 1 place to paint.
The Sea Harvest fountain, Aristides Demetrios’ swirling bronze sculpture, makes the entrance to Sawyer Free memorable. Twelve fish are swimming in circles. Small mackerel are at the very top with larger mostly bottom feeding species such as cod and haddock swimming underneath. Can you name all the fish?
Photo: Aristides Demetrios 4′ high 1977 bronze Sea Harvest fountain in the foreground / City Hall in the background. Note a few City Hall details: tower clock (donated by Sawyer); schooner weather vane; and the historic Civil War memorial on the grounds of City Hall.
Aristides Burton Demetrios was born in 1932 in Lincoln, MA, where his parents lived for one year. He and his brother were raised in Gloucester. He has resided and worked in California since 1959. It’s hard not to read into this sculpture a bit of biography near and dear to Gloucester. ‘The apple has not fallen far from the tree’ as the saying goes. His parents were part of a Gloucester arts community that included nationally recognized artists such as Paul Manship, Walker Hancock, and Leon Kroll. His father, George Demetrios (1896-1974), was an acclaimed sculptor and teacher at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts School as well as on Cape Ann. His mother, Virginia Lee Burton, was a renowned artist, writer, and founder of Folly Cove Designers. She is considered one of the best author-illustrators of children’s books of all time, including Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel, Katy and the Big Snow, and the Caldecott winning Little Place. Art permeated every facet of their family and community. One might be forgiven for seeing traces of this legacy of influence. Aristides took classes from his father; both father and son worked primarily as sculptors. It’s fascinating to compare repeated compositions in his mother’s work with Aristide Demetrios’ art, their confident line, sense of movement, discovery and joy.
A few other examples by Aristides Demetrios:
Aristides Demetrios’ 1964 welded bronze and copper White Memorial Fountain (nicknamed ‘the Claw’) for Stanford University earned a #9 spot on this TOP 20 MOST POPULAR FOUNTAINS ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES list. “Demetrios is a celebrated sculptor who can transform any boring fountain into an art piece. Like the students at Stanford, he does not settle for anything less than mediocre. Before the rivalry game against UC-Berkeley, Stanford holds a mock-somber “burial” of UC’s mascot Oski the Bear. At the end, an effigy of the bear is impaled on top of the sculpture.” #1 on that particular list was Occidental with sculpture: Water Forms II by artist, George Baker, “…a campus landmark. It was actually featured prominently in the 1984 film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.”
Aristides Demetrios, Forms Sung in a Kelp Forest, 12.5 feet high welded bronze fountain, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Aristides Demetrios Proteus, 1965, 32 -foot wide bronze and copper fountain for Sacramento Court House
Aristides Demetrios, Acrobats, 14 bronze sculptures, each 7 feet high, Pacific Commons, Fremont, CA
The big infrastructure work along the western side of the Boulevard is 80% complete
and on track to meet its October 1st heavy construction milestone. The finish line –opening to the public– will come soon after. Seasons of activity have continued these past 15 months with little disruption.
The eastern end of the Boulevard was refurbished after the Blizzard of 1978. The current project encompasses the western side and chugged forward once the green light cleared in May of 2015. (The planning and quest for funding began years before, as in 1999) This is huge! It’s Gloucester harbor and one of the world’s beautiful promenades.
So what’s been happening? Mike Hale said that the seawall has been restored; the sidewalks are being reconstructed; a low stone wall removed and rebuilt; railing test pieces installed; light bases installed for new lights (there weren’t any lights before); and more. Landscape features and framing are on the plans to be built out next month. The island side of Blynman will come next.
This project isn’t the only game in town for this department. DPW manages to keep all the balls in the air. They are impressive!
Black rocks are slippery and demand respect. Dreaded barnacles may be near.
For the uninitiated, advice helps: Tread slowly. Crouch low. No flip flops. Maintain 3 or 4 points of contact. Walk like a crab. The rocks feel sticky, maybe dry. Caution: things change quickly if you’re wet.
Still, people fall. Hard. I have witnessed spectacular slides down cliffs, torn and stained swimwear, bruised backs, skin scraped raw and red, stubbed and bloody toes, one gashed head, and a fractured wrist.
I have a copy of The Sea is All About Us in a guest room for family and friends. I can’t say that it will ward off all evil falls, but it’s helped. The granite galvanizing, seaweed section quoted below is one of the oft read passages I share. What a teacher! She lived in Gloucester and wrote about it.
If you read it once, I guarantee that it will change how you see the colors of our rocky coast, and sea all about us.
From 1973 The Sea is All about Us by Sarah Fraser Robbins and Clarice Yentsch. Back cover: Yentsch and Robbins (first author-holding horseshoe crab)
The Rocky Shore
The Black Zone
Plant and animal life on the rocky shore can be separated into six general zones, beginning with the Black Zone, which marks the average high point that the sea reaches upon the land. The Black Zone is covered by microscopic blue-green algae, which are so dense that they make a black line of varying widths along the rocks. These blue green algae exist at high-tide level all around the world wherever the sea meets the land on the rocks.
Just below the Black Zone lie
The Periwinkle Zone and The Barnacle Zone.
named after the dominant animals. There is no definite territorial line for these animals, and indeed the zones often intermingle with each other. Barnacles and periwinkles can be found penetrating the Rockweed Zone (the next zone seaward) and sometimes into the edge of the Irish Moss Zone. Both periwinkles and barnacles are equipped to withstand desiccation (drying out), and can live very successfully in an area that is dry up to 70 percent of the time.
The Rockweed Zone
lies in the middle intertidal area, and is characterized by the brown seaweeds that live there, such as the sea wrack, Fucus, and the knotted wrack, Ascophyllum, which are long, brown seaweeds with conspicuous float bladders that are firmly attached to most of the rocks. They hang limply when the tide is out and float upwards as the tide rises until they are completely erect at high tide. They sway back and forth, dampening the effect of wave action, and providing a sheltered environment for many intertidal plants and animals.
The Irish Moss Zone
is down lower from the high tide line and is exposed only during the very low tides which occur twice a month. The short, dark red tufts of Irish moss, Chondrus Crispus, cover the lower rocks like a carpet, in sharp contrast with the brown Rockweed Zone, the white Barnacle Zone, the Periwinkle Zone and the Black Zone above.
The Laminarian or Kelp Zone
is exposed only at the very lowest tides, which occurs four times a year. This zone extends down as far as light usable for photosynthesis can penetrate–about 30 meters in Folly Cove, and 200 meters in very clear tropical water. The Kelp Zone is the dwelling place of many animals that can survive only continually submerged in water; sponges, hydroids, anemones, certain mollusks, echinoderms, arthropods, tunicates, and fish. Many of these animals may be found higher in intertidal zones, but only in pools that never dry up.
Sarah Fraser Robbins
On tide pools- “AT TIMES IN AUGUST THEY ARE REDUCED TO A CRUST OF SALT CRYSTALS”
“Tide pools occur in all zones. The upper pools in the splash area or Periwinkle Zone are sporadically replenished with sea water, and consequently are subject to variations caused by land temperatures. They may freeze long before the ocean does. They evaporate in hot sun and strong winds, and thereby concentrate their salinity, that is, become saltier than the sea. At times during August, they are reduced to a crust of salt crystals. After heavy rains and floods they become much less salty. Some tide pools in the middle zones will contain animals and plants characteristic of a deeper zone because the conditions present are similar to those in the zone below. Tide pools in the Irish Moss Zone often contain kelp and associated animals. Tide pools are always a good place to explore.
The edge of the tide is a fragile environment which in its delicate natural balance can easily be destroyed by interference. The building of piers, jetties, and sewage outfalls, and the dumping of trash or industrial wastes into the ocean can be devastating. Overcollecting can be destructive. In the intertidal areas, look and touch only. Examine plants and animals carefully. Overturn stones to see what is clinging to them or living underneath, but always turn that stone back. To leave it overturned alters the environment completely and needlessly kills many organisms. Take photographs or make careful drawings for your notebook, but collect only dead material. Use unbreakable plastic containers from which to observe the organism and then return them to the tidal pool.”
Sarah Fraser Robbins
Dry. Scurry as you like.
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Did you read Ray Lamont’s article Crackdown at the Quarries from Gloucester Daily Times? That is now and that was then. A few choice excerpts from an August 5, 1978 article by Henry F Billings published in the North Shore Magazine insert of the Gloucester Daily Times.
The water is oil-slicked in places and the litter is out of control everywhere. There is obviously no one responsible for cleaning up the area. Apparently the people who use the area are making no effort to tidy up.
The litter ranges from beer bottles of now defunct breweries to yesterday’s Big Mac container to last Saturday night’s underwear. Careful collection of all the broken glass in the area would provide all the churches of the United States with enough material to make their own stained glass windows for the next millennium.
The persistent will not be deterred by this eyesore. they will follow the path that leads around to the left.
A few steps beyond the first quarry is a second, much cleaner, one. Although there still is enough litter to keep a DPW crew busy for a week, this quarry does offer the bather a salubrious haven from the burdens of the world.
Nude bathing adds a dash of spice to an already adventurous day of swimming…
And, if your sense of smell is weak then the acid rock punctuating the air is a dead giveaway. The message is clear: “come on , he’s got cocaine and morphine too…rocketships to get you high…
The first quarry is particularly renown as an automobile burial ground. No doubt a ‘stolen car’ or two has found its way to the murky depths. That would help account for the thick, localized oil slicks which are the legacy of a quick insurance claim. This explanation is given additional credence by a bit of graffiti on a cliff at the second quarry, “Park Cars Here” with an arrow pointing down. One of the stranger stories is the one about a man who dove from a high cliff only to be skewered by a car antenna. This improbable tale has produced an additional piece of graffiti, “Dean Man’s Cliff.” All of this lends an air of fascination to the place.
So if you can shield your eyes from the thoughtless refuse of others and are a strong adventurous swimmer with a disdain for crowds, then maybe a day at the Annisquam quarry is for you…
When a region as popular and crowded as the North Shore is during the summer, it may seem strange to talk of obscure swimming areas. In truth, there aren’t many left.
And those that we have are manifestly flawed. If you want guaranteed safety, clean water and privies with toilet paper, then you better stay with established areas…
photo caption: Quarries were not designed with swimming safety in mind
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Before we dive into Northshore Magazine’s Fall Favorites September issue, let’s take a moment to acknowledge its Best of North Shore August issue. Although votes did not come in all Cape Ann for categories you thought might be a shoe-in: best beach, bakery, breakfast, burger, clam chowder, farmer’s market, art gallery, art anything (!), museum, or attraction — Gloucester and all of Cape Ann businesses receive a lot of deserved attention! Signing in to vote may be a barrier to entry for some. Still, 150,000+ votes were cast. You can check out what won in many additional categories in the 300pp monster issue.
Good Morning Gloucester 