Went over the Essex Shipbuilding on Sunday for a Celebration of Life. The Essex Shipbuilding boat yard is a wonderful place. Always enjoy walking the boat yard.
Tag: Essex Shipbuilding Museum
Essex Shipbuilding Museum Farmers Market
A beautiful day over at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum on Monday at a Farmers Market.

Essex Shipbuilding Museum Farmers Market

Essex openings tonight- 4PM Fun Friday & Bicentennial Display at TOHP Burnham | 6PM Essex Art Collective at Essex Shipbuilding Museum
Fresh – Essex Art Collective exhibition

tonight! Opening Party: Friday, May 10, 2019 at 6pm
Exhibit Hours on Saturday, May 11, 2019 from 10am – 5pm
Essex Shipbuilding Museum, Waterline Center, 66 Main Street (Rte. 133)
Come see FRESH new works by Essex Art Collective: women artists who collaborate in artistic endeavors and inspire each other to create paintings, drawings, printmaking, sculpture, fiber arts, mixed media works and photography. Group Members Alison Taylor, Jen Grober, Jen Romans, Kristen Wilson, Mallie Pratt, Margaret Sweet, Melissa Glorieux, Naomi Chapman, Rosie Winthrop and Wrenn Bartlett invite you to see the show!
CAPE ANN READS EXHIBIT

Reception: Saturday, May 18, 2019 from 10am – 12pm
TONIGHT! Fun Friday featuring James McKenna/Juni Van Dyke books 4pm
Fun Fridays Featuring Reading/Activity with Award-Winning Authors & Artists– meet local artists and writers and enjoy free stories and visual arts events perfect for children to create artwork side by side with an older family member – either a parent, grandparent or a sibling May 10th, May 17th, 31st and June 7th at 4pm
Exhibit on View until June 21, 2019
Essex Town Hall, 3rd Floor, 30 Martin Street (an accessible facility)
Once Upon a Contest showcases award-winning children’s books by Cape Ann artists and writers. Congratulations to Essex resident and author, Diane Polley awarded Cape Ann Reads Honor Book for Lets Go! Animal Tracks in the Snow, with illustrations by Marion Hall. Congratulations to Essex resident and author, James MacKenna awarded Cape Ann Reads Gulliver Award for If I Were a Moose and If I were a Lion with illustrations by Juni VanDyke. And congratulations to Essex native and artist, Alexia Parker, for illustrating Cape Ann Reads Gulliver Award books for two authors, Pumpkin Carving and Bike’s Big Adventure. Parker is the Invitational Public Artist for the Essex show. Her series celebrates iconic Essex buildings and places in collage using solely paper and glue. Come meet some of these local authors and illustrators! Light refreshments by the Friends of the T.O.H.P. Burnham Public Library will be served.
Side by side Once upon a Contest at TOHP Burnham in Essex:
Fantastic Essex Bicentennial display – don’t miss it!

Sign up to receive notices from Visit Essex, MA – May is Blooming with Events to Enjoy info@visitessexma.com
cultural districts across the state convened at Natick Center for the Arts MCC #powerofculture
Cape Ann participated in the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) statewide cultural district convening which was hosted by the Natick Center for the Arts. Statewide district gatherings occur once or twice a year: the last two were held in Cambridge, and Beverly. Representatives from Gloucester, Rockport and Essex cultural districts were in attendance. (Manchester and Ipswich do not not have a designation at this time. Gloucester could have seven.)
Massachusetts Cultural Council Director, Anita Walker, welcomed the crowd, and introduced officials from Natick and new additions to the MCC staff. Jill Cahill, Gloucester’s Director of Community Development, brought a gift from the Mayor and the City to add to a send-off of thanks and well wishes for Meri Jenkins, longtime MCC leader who managed cities and towns through cultural facilities funding and district designations. Luis Edgardo Cotto and Justina Crawford will be taking over the MCC Community Initiative programs managed by Meri.

The MCC approved five year district renewals for both Rocky Neck and Rockport last year. District renewal for Gloucester’s downtown is underway. Essex received official citations for their renewal at this convening. Here’s a photo of Christopher Stepler, artist and Manager of Essex Shipbuilding Museum, and Lee Spence, former Director. One update they shared was that the successful historic exhibition The Women of Essex – Stories to Share displayed at Essex Town Hall in a renovated bright space on the top floor above the TOHP Burnham Public Library (thanks in part to Cultural Facilities funding) was selected to travel to the NPS regional Visitor Center in Salem.

Fishing Schooner Columbia launch 1923 then and now
Columbia was designed by Starling Burgess. Shown here under construction at the Essex boat yard (Arthur Dana Story ship yard), launched, and sailing to Gloucester 1923. Leslie Jones photographs, from glass negatives Boston Public Library collection. It sank in 1946.

The new Columbia is participating in the Gloucester Schooner Festival 2018 – download the fantastic program here- handy information about each boat and all the special events

2018 Gloucester Schooner Festival Parade of Sails – Columbia


The Launch
Over at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum on Friday, these great 8th graders launched 2 more boats. The faces on these kids speaks volumes of how much fun and educational this experience is. The teachers who were there, I wish I had them in 8th grade. Thank you to the Essex Shipbuilding Museum for all your experience and to Teacher Dave Brown and Amy Donnelly for your dedication to these students. It was also so wonderful to see Harold Burnham watch some future boat builders launch their creations.
4th ANNUAL FESTIVAL IN THE SHIPYARD (AND BOAT LAUNCHING!!) THIS SATURDAY
Great idea and beautiful new trail map! Woman Owned Businesses along the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway Route 133/1A
One for All and All for One !
Local women retailers and colleagues from Gloucester, Essex, Ipswich and Rowley met early last spring about working together to market their businesses. These street level shops represent 4 cities and towns, and share a regional ‘Main Street’ – Route 133/1A, part of the gorgeous 90 mile Essex Coastal Scenic Byway. The new Woman Owned Businesses Along The Essex Coastal Scenic Byway brochure will be in stores before Labor Day. I’ll re-post with higher resolution images and final copy when it’s unveiled. While you’re exploring this contemporary woman owned businesses trail, don’t miss the fantastic historic exhibition The Women of Essex – Stories to Share show sponsored by the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, on display on the 3rd Floor of the Essex Town Hall and Library, 30 Martin Street (Route 22), Essex.
Fun route is easy to follow
#1 Pauline’s Gifts, Gloucester
#2 Essex Bird Shop & Pet Supply, Essex
#3 Sea Meadow Gifts and Gardens, Essex
#4 The Essex Exchange, Essex
#5 Olde Ipswich Shop & Gallery, Ipswich*
#6 AnnTiques, Ipswich
#7 Be Modern, Ipsiwch
#8 Lost Treasures, Rowley
#9 Serendipity at Todd’s Farm, Rowley
*Johanne Cassia, who owns Olde Ipswich Shop & Gallery –#5 on the new map–painted the illustration of their businesses featured on the brochure.


I’ve included a few scenes from The Women of Essex – Stories to Share exhibition at Essex Town Hall and the renovated bright space on the top floor, accessible for all.
photo- Women of Essex: Restauranteurs (detail from installation Essex Town Hall)








LAUNCH PARTY TODAY FOR THE LEWIS H. STORY AT THE ESSEX SHIPBUILDING MUSEUM!
Join us as we celebrate the re-launch of the Museum’s Flagship, the Lewis H. Story! Music, food, libations and family activities in the Shipyard, it will be a great way to kick off the summer season. Saturday, June 4th, at 4pm at the Essex Shipbulding Museum.
Photo: Wooden Boat Magazine
HISTORY OF THE LEWIS H. STORY from the Essex Shipbuilding Museum website
In 1998, the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum commissioned Essex builder Harold Burnham to construct a Chebacco to serve as the museum’s flagship. She measures 30 feet on deck and her hull, deck arrangement and rig are typical of post-Revolutionary War inshore fishermen.
The STORY is named in honor of Essex shipwright, carver, designer, modeler, researcher and the town’s foremost maritime historian, Lewis H. Story, 1873-1948. All contemporary studies of Essex history and the design of the American fishing schooner are based on his life-long study and scholarship.
THE CHEBACCO BOAT
During the American Revolution, the British nearly destroyed the New England fishing fleet. Since capital was lacking to build replacement schooners, a low-cost, quickly built vessel was needed. A little two-masted boat, then popular for the inshore fishery, seemed to fit the bill. Because it was developed in Essex which was then a parish of Ipswich called “Chebacco”, the vessel was known as a “Chebacco Boat” if pink sterned (pointed) and “Chebacco Dogbody” if square sterned (the origin of the term “Dogbody” is not known).
Chebacco Boats were built by the hundreds not only in Essex, but in other coastal towns as well. Typically, they measured between 22 and 30 tons and averaged from 24 to 48 feet in length, had two masts and no bowsprit. They were usually a flush-deck vessel with several cockpits, or “standing rooms” in which the fishermen stood to fish. A middle hatch gave access to the fish hold.
Local Essex tradition has it that the first Chebacco Boat was built in the attic of a house. This is likely more legend than fact. However, Chebaccos were almost always built near the dwelling of the builder and sometimes no more than a few yards from the front door. When finished, the boats were loaded onto pairs of wooden wheels and hauled to the launch-site by teams of oxen. Boat hauling went out of favor about the year 1835. Thereafter, all Essex vessels were built on the river’s edge.
“There are Chebacco boats building for the Bay Fishery not only at every landing place, but in the yards of farmers some distance from the shore“.
1817, The Reverend William Bentley, of Salem
SCHOONER CHALLENGE VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH CAPTS. HAROLD BURNHAM AND ANNE ST.JOHN FROM BARRY O’BRIEN!
If you want to know what Monday night’s Schooner Challenge is all about watch this video interview with Captain Harold Burnham and Captain Anne-Seymour St. John from Barry O’Brien 🙂
MONDAY NIGHT’S SCHOONER CHALLENGE NOW INCLUDES THE LEWIS H. STORY!
Don’t miss the 5th Annual Schooner Challenge!
Proceeds to benefit the Evelina M. Goulart, the Essex-built, Gloucester fishing schooner.
Tickets may be ordered online at essexshipbuildingmuseum.org or call 978-375-3337.
SUPER EXCITING NEWS MONDAY NIGHT’S SCHOONER CHALLENGE NOW INCLUDES THE LEWIS H. STORY!
THE SCHOONER CHALLENGE NOW INCLUDES THE LEWIS H. STORY!
Don’t miss the 5th Annual Schooner Challenge! Proceeds to benefit the Evelina M. Goulart, the Essex-built, Gloucester fishing schooner. Tickets may be ordered online at www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org or call 978-375-3337.
Beverly hosts a regional Massachusetts Cultural Council cultural districts gathering at The Cabot
The City of Beverly and The Cabot hosted a Massachusetts Cultural Council north shore cultural district meeting today. The theater was getting ready for tonight’s sold out Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan and they still made time for the districts. Mayor Cahill welcomed the group. The current exhibition installed in this sunny space is a solo show by fine artist and commercial sign maker, Andrew Bablo.
Cultural districts and organizations coming together for this meeting included the following: Beverly Main Streets and the BAD district; Montserrat College of Art; Chris Sicuranza, Gloucester’s Director of Communications & Constituent Services,Office of the Mayor; the two Gloucester cultural districts, and local cultural council; Rockport’s cultural district; Essex Historic Society and Shipbuilding Museum and district; Historic New England and Cogswell’s Grant; Lynn’s district; Haverhill’s; and Concord’s. Concord will be hosting their regional meeting tomorrow. Currently there are 35 cultural districts across Massachusetts with 40 possible by the end of June. Salem may come on next year. Interactive MA cultural districts as Google map.

OUR HOSTS photo L-R: Kevin Harutunian, Chief of Staff, Beverly; Aaron Clausen, City Planning Director, Community Development, City of Beverly; Gin Wallace, Director Beverly Main Streets; Meri Jenkins, MCC; J Casey Soward, The Cabot, Beverly; Steve Immerman Montserrat College of Art, Beverly; Annie Houston, MCC

Women of Essex exhibit at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum opens this weekend
Slated to run in conjunction with National Women’s History Month, Women of Essex Stories to Share, will be on display most weekends from March 18-April 29. The show is hosted by Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum. Lee adds:
“The motivation for this exhibit was the recognition that, while our emphasis at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum has been on shipbuilding and the men involved with it, there were many significant roles of women in the community. Hence the exhibit Women of Essex – Stories to Share. This exhibit features about a dozen women that we are featuring individually in this first phase of the project. To help scope this effort, we are focusing this phase on women who are no longer with us. These include the women that were instrumental in building the first meeting house, one of the first woman auctioneers in the country, a female professional baseball player, a woman who was a motivator behind several town projects, several individuals active in the arts, and even an enslaved woman. There will be collections of several other groups of women, namely teachers and restaurateurs, an Essex mainstay.”
www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org

JOIN IN THE FUN OF MONDAY NIGHT’S SCHOONER CHALLENGE!
Len Burgess writes, “YOU WANT TO BE IN THIS CHALLENGE! It is this JUNE 6TH, 5:30 TO 8PM. Sign up at www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org, or call Marcia at (978) 375-3337 today! Tickets are selling fast and the weather is predicted to be 75 degrees, partly sunny – perfect sailing weather.”
https://vimeo.com/169423749
JOIN THE 4th ANNUAL SCHOONER CHALLENGE! Monday, June 6th, 6 to 8 pm. The Schooners Adventure, Lannon, and Adelle join forces to help us to protect and preserve the Schooner Evelina M. Goulart here at the shipbuilding museum. Schooners sail from The Maritime Gloucester dock on Harbor Loop. More fun than you can imagine. Sign up at www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org, or call Marcia at (978) 375-3337 today! Tickets will sell fast!
Video by Barry O’Brien, with footage lent by Marty Luster
NEW VIDEO: COME SAIL IN THE 4th ANNUAL SCHOONER CHALLENGE!
“What happens in this race anyhow?” Racing, of course, with some cheating too (as revealed in the video), along with photo competitions, songwriting contest, creative knot tying, and much more! Everyone is welcome to participate, but hurry and sign up today because tickets are going fast.
Check out this super fun video from Barry O’Brien, featuring our Gloucester Captains Tom and Heath Ellis of the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon, Captain Stefan Edick of the Schooner Adventure, and Captain Harold Burnham of the Schooner Ardelle.
JOIN THE 4th ANNUAL SCHOONER CHALLENGE! Monday, June 6th, 6 to 8 pm. The Schooners Adventure, Lannon, and Adelle join forces to help us to protect and preserve the Schooner Evelina M. Goulart here at the shipbuilding museum. Schooners sail from The Maritime Gloucester dock on Harbor Loop. More fun than you can imagine. Sign up at www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org, or call Marcia at (978) 375-3337 today! Tickets will sell fast!
Video by Barry O’Brien, with footage lent by Marty Luster
Save the Date for the Fourth Annual Schooner Challenge
The Challenge is to benefit the Essex Shipbuilding Museum for the care and preservation of Essex built schooners.









