Tag: #GloucesterMA

Save the date! Cape Ann Symphony’s Free Pops concert in Stage Fort Park on Gloucester Harbor #GloucesterMA 400+

Posted on by Catherine

One month away- mark your calendars! Countdown to Cape Ann Symphony’s very own Pops concert–a preeminent 400+ celebration– at Stage Fort Park is July 28, 2023. Classical and popular music for all in a spectacular setting!

For Gloucester’s Tablet Rock dedication in 1907, momentous Gloucester Day celebrations, and the city’s 300th, the natural open air ampitheatre of Stage Fort Park and its sweeping vistas beckoned and accomodated thousands for sheer casual delight, open and accessible to all. The Cape Ann Symphony Pops in the Park event echoes this history! On a smaller scale, the city hosts the popular free Antonio Gentile Bandstand Summer Concert Series at Stage Fort Park.

2016
1907
2017
1907
1909
Stage Fort Fisherman’s Field plaque honoring all actions. My attribution is Harriet Hyatt_plaque refers to restoration of area 1930 by DAR

Heidi Dallin shares the details from Cape Ann Symphony:

CAPE ANN SYMPHONY RETURNS TO STAGE FORT PARK

Celebrate Gloucester’s 400+ at

POPS IN THE PARK

FREE ORCHESTRA CONCERT SET FOR JULY 28 at 8 PM

Cape Ann Symphony has partnered with the Gloucester 400+ to bring Cape Ann’s 70-member professional orchestra to Stage Fort Park for Pops in The Park, a special concert to celebrate Gloucester’s 400+, on Friday, July 28 at 8 PM.

“Over the last 6 months we’ve been raising the funds needed to put the symphony on stage and I am delighted to share that we just reached our goal. We are so appreciative of our corporate sponsors and all the individual donors who contributed to make this marquee event of the 400th celebration a reality! So, save the date of July 28th on your calendar and come join us at Pops in the Park, a glorious evening of symphonic music free to the public.”

Jodi Nedrow-Counihan, CAS board member and coordinator of the Pops event

Set against the majestic backdrop of Gloucester Harbor, this FREE outdoor all ages event will be a special evening of music. The program includes Rossini’s Barber of Seville Overture; Anderson’s Selections from Irish Suite; Copland’s Hoedown; William’s Adventures on Earth; A Tribute to Henry Mancini; Tchaikovsky’s Finale of The 1812 Overture and the world premiere of Celebration Overture by acclaimed Gloucester composer Robert J Bradshaw.

“The Pops in the Park Concert on July 28th is a celebration not only of the 400+ years of Gloucester history but of the 70+ years of the Cape Ann Symphony” adds Nedrow-Counihan. The Cape Ann Symphony began in 1952 as a volunteer group of thirty or so individuals calling themselves the “Gloucester Civic Symphony Orchestra”. On July 10th, 1952 the symphony performed their inaugural concert in the Gloucester High School auditorium and wowed the audience of over 800 concertgoers with their performance of Beethoven’s First Symphony.

Today, the Cape Ann Symphony has evolved into an all-professional orchestra of more than 70 members from throughout the New England area with a performance level to rival any regional Symphony in the country. For more than 20 years Maestro Yoichi Udagawa has been the CAS Music Director and Conductor and his artistry and passion have made him an audience favorite. Maestro Udagawa is at home in popular and contemporary music as well as the standard symphonic repertoire. He is known for his relaxed manner and ability to speak from the podium which has helped new audiences as well as enthusiasts gain a greater appreciation for symphonic music.

The Cape Ann Symphony’s Pops in the Park Concert, a preeminent event to celebrate Gloucester’s 400+, is Friday, July 28, 2023 at 8:00 pm in Stage Fort Park, 24 Hough Avenue, Gloucester, MA. Admission to this outdoor concert on the harbor is FREE. For information, call 978-281-0543 or visit pops.capeannsymphony.org

aBOUT Stage Fort Park Tablet Rock

*“In 1623, 14 English fishermen set up the first European colony on Cape Ann here in what was then Fisherman’s Field and is now Stage Fort Park. These ramparts overlook the harbor, first built during the Revolutionary War, renewed for the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Spanish American War.”

Alas, those first settlers, sent across the ocean by the Dorchester Company, were unable to live off the sea and these rock-bound fields. They moved a few miles south to what is now Salem in 1626. Then, within a decade, there were enough permanent settlers on Cape Ann to incorporate the town of Gloucester. The first meetinghouse was built on the Town Green in 1642 near what is now the Grant Circle rotary of Route 128. The City set this land aside as a public park in 1898 and its Tablet Rock was dedicated by Henry Cabot Lodge in 1907.“

– David Rhinelander see Gloucester HarborWalk Stage Fort Park marker #42, 2011 photo on marker ©Sharon Lowe.

Reposting history I wrote about Stage Fort Plaque / Tablet Rock:

See also Stage Fort Park then/now photos in prior GMG post

James R. Pringle was designated to write the inscription for the bronze plaque. The execution of the design was by Eric Pape. “The nautical scheme of decorative framework and embellishment was the composite suggestion” of various committees dating as far back as the 1880s. Bronze tribute plaques embedded in Tablet Rock at Stage Fort Park detail the site’s history and were commissioned and unveiled at different times. The monumental and stunning Founders plaque from 1907 on Tablet Rock itself is in fantastic condition. Two DAR plaques were inlaid on the glacial outcroppings past half moon beach on the way to the cannons. The Fisherman’s Field (1934) which I attributed to Harriet Hyatt is so worn it’s nearly indecipherable, though that’s part of its charm**. The plaque compels close inspection, lingering and discovery. It’s a fun family activity for anyone who likes a challenge. For those who want help reading the content, I transcribed it back in 2010. Harriet Hyatt designed the Meeting House Plain plaque across from Cape Ann near Washington and Poplar. – 2015, 2027 **Update 2020: Cape Ann Museum acquired the original drawing for the plaque design in 2020!

Click here to enlarge:  transcription of Fisherman’s Field tribute plaque Tablet Rock Stage Fort Park Gloucester MA

A great Edward Hopper Gloucester watercolor to be auctioned at Sotheby’s May 2023. Whitney Museum selling 4 Hoppers from repository. And there’s another.

Posted on by Catherine

Do you know a cluster of homes perched like the subjects in this classic Edward Hopper watercolor painted here in Gloucester 100 years ago? Hallmark motifs and themes pair up throughout this bright and sunny scene: outhouse on the left and brush edged to the right (“nature calls”), passage between buildings and boulders, light and sharp shadow, double windows and curtains, roofline and sky, line up of chimneys, and the mystery of cropped views over the hill and off to the sides.

A house like the home on the right with dark trim and the pair of double stacked windows may appear to be a double story home from one side and as a single story from another. (A home at the corner of Webster and Sadler Sts. shows the vernacular charm and multi vantage points.)

At Sotheby’s May 2023

The drawing is available for purchase. The Whitney Museum of American Art is deaccessioning four Edward Hopper watercolors inspired by the artist’s travel to four locations: Gloucester, Truro, Vermont/NH, and South Carolina. Sotheby’s Auction House has listed them in their major upcoming New York spring sales: one painting for the Modern Evening auction May 16 and 3 paintings on paper for the Modern Day auction on May 17. A fifth Edward Hopper work on paper is included in the day sale.

Images: Edward Hopper works from the Whitney collection at Sotheby’s auction May 2023, images left to right: Lot 434 Red Barn in Autumn Landscape, 1927; Lot 430 Gloucester Group of Houses 1923 est 500,000 – 700,000; Lot 432 The Battery, Charleston, SC 1929 est 500-700,000; Lot 145 Cobb’s Barn, South Truro, circa 1930-33, presale estimate 8-12 million. This painting was selected for display in the Oval Office* by President Obama. A later Edward Hopper Cape Cod watercolor from 1943, Four Dead Trees, with a presale estimate of 700,000-1,000,000, sold at Christie’s on April 23, 2023 for 1.5 million (price realized includes added fees). Lot 531 an Edward Hopper Sailboat study from 1899 from the Sanborn batch, presale est. $100,000 (w/ art and papers in the Nyack home following Hoppers’ deaths.)

Auction follow up and results posted here.

White House Oval Office installation view 2014

image: Portrait of President Obama viewing Edward Hopper paintings in the Oval Office by Chuck Kennedy. Loan from/by the Whitney Art Museum 2014 (and other selections and guidance see Michael Rosenfeld Gallery)

On right, Hopper’s NY Rooftops 1927 reminds me of the Gloucester forms ( installation view Whitney NY, Jan 2023), like vessels on the Hudson. Photo c ryan

—

*I wrote about art at the White House in 2014 which was published here on GMG in 2015:

“What’s the best art inside the White House? No matter what is your artistic preference, Gloucester and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts could top the charts as the City and state with the best and most art ties featured at the White House. Let’s break down a selection of that Massachusetts list currently on display at the White House room-by-room, shall we?

“Not one, but two Edward Hopper paintings, lent by the Whitney Museum of American Art, were installed one over the other, Cobb’s Barns, South Truro and Burly Cobb’s House, South Truro. The Childe Hassam’s painting, Avenue in the Rain, and Norman Rockwell’s painting, Statue of Liberty, were displayed nearby.

…How does the White House collection work? It is unusual for the White House to accept art by living artists. There are more than 450 works of art in the permanent collection. New art enters the collection after its vetted and is restricted to works created at least 25 years prior to the date of acquisition. For the public rooms, the Office of the Curator works with the White House advisory committee, the First Lady serves as the Honorary Chair, and the White House Historical Association. The private rooms are the domain of the First Family. Works of art from collectors, museums, and galleries can be requested for temporary loans and are returned at the end of the President’s final term. The Obamas have selected contemporary art, including abstract art, from the permanent collection, and borrowed work for their private quarters. Besides the Hopper paintings and John Alston’s Martin Luther King sculpture, they’ve selected art by *Anni Albers, *Josef Albers, Edgar Degas, Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, *Robert Rauschenberg, Edward Ruscha, and *Alma Thomas.” * indicates works that have been donated to the permanent collection.

Catherine Ryan, 2014

Works from the White House permanent collection

There are more than 120 Edward Hopper works inspired by Gloucester, MA. See Edward Hopper all around Gloucester. The Whitney Museum has sold Hoppers before. I’ll write more about that for another post.

Open Content: 40+ years of Gloucester Daily Times newspapers digitized! Jan 1923 thru Mar 1965 | Sawyer Free Library #GloucesterMA

Posted on by Catherine

Hundreds of the library’s Gloucester Newspaper Microfilm Collection of monthly reels spanning 40+ years have been optimized for accessibility and are now fully searchable on line! The microfilm rolls and readers on site are up and running as well.

“The Sawyer Free Library digitized the Gloucester Daily Times from January 1923 through March 1965. You can access the collection through our website (homepage), or directly from the online collection.”

Sawyer Free Library

It’s as easy as click on the home page! Here’s Julie Travers, SFL’s Local History Librarian, walking me through the happy news. If you’d like to contribute to the library’s ongoing efforts, each roll costs roughly $175-$200 a piece.

Archives for All!

“HISTORY MAKING PLEA – ARCHIVES FOR ALL
The prohibitive costs of best practice historic preservation (ADA compliant, temperature and humidity controls, security, sustainability, in house scanning/OCR/audio transcription, etc.) is impossible for all the worthy collections in town, and pits them as foes when vying for funds. Let’s flip that impediment on its head and make Gloucester a model for the state. Its treasures would be available worldwide if they were truly accessible –digitized…”

Catherine Ryan, Jan. 3, 2017 here

How exciting that Gloucester’s repositories have been busy digitizing treasures from their archives. The GDT newspaper microfilm rolls are a welcome addition.

Acrid smoldering by Plum Cove looked like fog. Blue Sky sunrise on Cape Ann. #GloucesterMA

Posted on by Catherine

Easter morning Rockport, Gloucester 4/9/2023

remembering Early 20th C. Ukrainian American artists Hope, Art and Freedom

Posted on by Catherine

3/24/2023. Now/Then

One year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, remembering early 20th C. Ukrainian immigrant artists and Ukrainian American artists including Alexander Archipenko, David Burliuk, Jack Delano, Sonia Delaunay, Chaim Gross, Louis Lozowick, (Kazimir) Malevich, Jules Olitski, Louise Nevelson, Milton Resnick; also, New York’s first women dealer, Edith Halpert, who founded The Downtown Gallery. (Halpert represented Stuart Davis and dedicated several solo exhibitions for him despite lack of sales.)

A few traveled with or visited friends in Gloucester as they built their lives anew.

Reading The Holodomor Memorial 1932-33 at Grand Park in Los Angeles, CA.–dedicated in 1986, the first such tribute in the United States–is devastating, and through the lens of today’s war may fuel a greater understanding of the Ukrainian fight for freedom.

T. Kozour. Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933 | Holodomor genocide bonze on stone tribute commissioned and unveiled May 1986, Grand Park Los Angeles, the first such tribute in the US. Photo © C. Ryan, Sept. 2022. [Plaque text: “In memory of 7,000,000 Ukrainians, victims of Russian communism, who lost their freedom, property and life by order of the Soviet government during 1932-1933 genocide by starvation in Ukraine. Dedicated by the Genocide in Ukraine Commemorative Committee, Los Angeles.”]
The Holodomor Memorial at Grand Park, LA photo C. Ryan

As of January 2021, the Senate and House or Representatives have recognized the famine as man made and an act of genocide. Timeline roundup of the US Senate here and current US House of Representatives resolution (excerpt below):

“…Whereas title V of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1986 (Public Law 99–180; 99 Stat. 1157), signed into law on December 13, 1985, established the Commission on the Ukraine Famine to “conduct a study of the Ukrainian Famine of 1932–1933 in order to expand the world’s knowledge of the famine and provide the American public with a better understanding of the Soviet system by revealing the Soviet role” in it;

Whereas the Commission on the Ukraine Famine, Investigation of the Ukrainian Famine 1932–1933: Report to Congress, adopted by the Commission, April 19, 1988, and submitted to Congress April 22, 1988, found that in 1932 and 1933, the Government of the Soviet Union had committed genocide against the Ukrainian people;

Whereas with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, archival documents confirmed the premeditated nature of the famine and exposed the atrocities suffered by the Ukrainian people;…”

Boston Globe: Cape Ann Museum Edward Hopper hype!

Posted on by Catherine

A big save the date–July 22, 2023–in today’s paper!

“The exhibition, accompanied by a 225-page catalog, will include 65 paintings, drawings, and prints, 57 of them by Hopper, seven by Nivison, and one by Robert Henri…”

John Laidler. “Strokes of genius: Edward Hopper, one of the foremost American painters of the 20th century, launched his fame by creating visions of Gloucester. Now the Cape Ann Museum is preparing to display his works.” Boston Globe. Metro Section. Sunday paper 2/5/2023 and 2 days prior online. Laidler has shared news from the museum, library’s building project, and the school consolidation in the past couple of years.

Step into Edward Hopper’s life in Gloucester with the web-based digital Google map I first created in 2010, Edward Hopper all around Gloucester, that reveals where scores of Hopper’s works of art were inspired in Gloucester beyond a well known core, and corrected several misidentifications possibly hinting at Maine or Cape Cod. By my last tally, there’s more than 120 in Gloucester! The exhibition at Cape Ann Museum will gather Gloucester originals together from public and private collections which is no small feat. What a thrill and opportunity to wander and wonder about art and ideas, and celebrate Gloucester.

Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Exhibition Coming to Cape Ann Museum opens July 22 #GloucesterMA

Posted on by Catherine

Finally! A major exhibition of Hopper’s Gloucester is underway, and one that will be mounted right here in Gloucester. Mark your calendars for visits to Cape Ann Museum this summer to study up close 60 Edward Hopper paintings, drawings and prints inspired by Gloucester and Cape Ann, on loan from the Whitney Museum of American Art and other public and private collections, and featuring a selection of work by Josephine Nivison Hopper.

Masterpiece drawings are rarely on public view or loaned because 1)they are fragile and watercolors are especially susceptible to light damage and 2)they can be a fixture highlight of a permanent collection which does not warrant any absence easily. This gathering of Hopper originals inspired by Gloucester at the Cape Ann Museum will truly be a once in a generation or lifetime opportunity to see the drawings on view and together in one venue. Investments and improvements into Cape Ann Museum facilities undertaken during Ronda Faloon’s tenure as former Director improved conditions so much that the museum can secure and protect temporary loans of such significance.

“Edward Hopper & Cape Ann: Illuminating an American Landscape is on view at CAM this summer 2023. Opening on July 22, Hopper’s birthday, exactly 100 years after his pivotal trip to Gloucester (then celebrating its 300th anniversary), this once-in-a-generation exhibition offers a fresh look at one of America’s best-known artists at the crucial moment that profoundly shaped his art and his life. It shows the largely ignored but significant origin story of Hopper’s years in and around Gloucester, Massachusetts—a period and place that imbued Hopper’s paintings with a clarity and purpose that had eluded his earlier work. The success of Hopper’s Gloucester watercolors transformed his work in all media and set the stage for his monumental career.”

Cape Ann Museum read more here

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) earned respect from his colleagues since his student days and ‘world famous artist’ status in his own time. Admiration for his contribution to American 20th century art did not fade in the 21st century. Indeed it’s been supercharged. Dr. Elliot Bostwick Davis, a long time curator and former museum director, was brought in to lead the survey at Cape Ann Museum, and its accompanying catalogue, published by Rizzoli, the preeminent art publishing house, with a foreword by Adam Weinberg and available in May. Davis was part of the curatorial team that produced the major 2007 Hopper exhibit for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston which traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and National Gallery. Significant Hopper artworks are on permanent display and revered worldwide. One imagines that Davis’s efforts were certain to secure the loans Cape Ann Museum sought, and perhaps a future Hopper bequest for the museum. As an art dealer, I first met Dr. Davis when she was an assistant curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when Colta Ives was the director of the print department.

I determined that there are more than 120 Edward Hopper works of art inspired by Gloucester, and mapped them which helped with the walking tour developed at Cape Ann Museum years after and was credited in CAM’s brochure. Less than 30 had been identified and some were credited to locations elsewhere in Massachusetts or out of state.

Publishers back in 2010 and 2012 did not think there was enough of a market for a Gloucester focused Hopper monograph. Good Morning Gloucester did and was the first to publish that research. In the past decade, Hopper surveys–whether narrow in focus, a broad retrospective traveling in the United States and abroad, or a viral social media expression during the pandemic–have been blockbusters and relevant, inspiring bequests, discoveries, and original work by filmmakers, playwrights, authors and musicians. It’s Gloucester’s time!

Edward Hopper, House in the Italian Quarter, 1923, watercolor, Smithsonian.

“#16 Fort Square Road, Gloucester, MA. Turn around with your back to Gloucester harbor and face “Tony’s House” at the angle shown here. In the painting, note the hint of  city skyline lower left, and the slight  slope along the right of the harbor. The double house and outhouses were irresistible and inevitable subjects.”

Catherine Ryan, 2010. Update: Shingles gone. The home was for sale in 2020, sold, and renovated. Blue cladding is recent. Photo with snow 1/24/2023. Note Birdseye in 2010 photos where Beauport Hotel is now.

The cover for the new catalogue features this home on Washington Street. The painting is in private hands, part of a wonderful collection in New York advised by fantastic curators associated with the Whitney. After this exhibit at Cape Ann Museum perhaps an eventual bequest here in Gloucester could happen.

Spectacular Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives past 350 #GloucesterMA Houses. Batch 4 Mapped 2022. And a couple #RockportMA 🚗☕🎄

Posted on by Catherine

Last UPDATE – 2022 That’s a wrap

Gloucester neighborhoods are shining bright! There are some 350 houses on the 2022 map. The map is smart phone ready with house pictures. A little light goes a long and welcome warm way. It’s dark so early now!

New homes mapped on December 14th,16th, &18th cover some of Gloucester’s main roads, mostly in West Gloucester, Magnolia, and along Rt. 127. Enjoy scenes from:

  • Rt. 133/ Essex Ave from Kent Circle tree past Little River to Rt. 128
  • Concord St.
  • Main Street – lobster trap tree
  • Magnolia Ave.
  • Western Ave.- Rt. 127
  • Thatcher R. – Rt. 217A by Long Beach Dairy Maid, thru Rockport, Tree in Dock Square, then Rt. 127-Washington St. loop Lanesville, Plum Cove, Bayview, Annisquam

(Scroll down to see photos. Pinch and zoom or double click depending upon your phone/desktop. On mine I double click and then have to select “Full size”. Scroll down to map.)

Lobster trap tree

and buoy ornaments inside and out

Walk inside – video (15 secs)

GIF – Gloucester Lobster Trap Tree

Tree in Kent Circle

Tree in Dock Square

GIF – House on Essex Ave.-Rt. 133

Annual merry dazzler Rt. 133

Map

Batch 1 photos and gifs published 12/5 here

Batch 2 photos and gifs 12/9 here

Batch 3 photos and gifs 12/13 here

Up on the roof top #GLOUCESTERMA

Posted on by Catherine

Christmas Topper: Rooftop Santa and Reindeer… on the car roof. With twinkling tree. And Hope, Peace.

merry car – “crazy hat” car decked out in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Dec. 16, 2022

Holiday Lights Cocoa Drives #GloucesterMA Houses 2022 – Merry and Bright Batch #3 Mapped🚗☕🎄

Posted on by Catherine

UPDATE

100 more homes mapped as of December 9, 2022. New streets (and/or newly lit homes on previously mapped streets), especially in East Gloucester, include:

Abbott Road, Abbot Place (off Harrison), Bass Ave., Brightside Ave, Chapel St., Crestwood Terrace (off Harrison), Davis St., Decatur St., East Main St., Grapevine Road, Green St., Harrison Ave., Hartz, Haskell, High Popples, Jacques Lane, Mt. Pleasant Ave., Perkins St., Rocky Pasture Rd., Skywood Terrace (off Harrison), Witham

GIFs

Map

**Raindeer are trending in East Gloucester**

Holiday Lights Cocoa Drives #GloucesterMA Houses 2022 – Merry Batch 2 Mapped 🚗☕

Posted on by Catherine

Finch Lane

UPDATE

Gloucester nearing 200 sparkling homes added to the map so far. Batch 2 (this post) streets include :Arthur Ct., Carlisle Ave., Cherry St., Cleveland St., Collins Ave, Doane Road, Essex Ave, Finch Lane, Gloucester Avenue, Honeysuckle Road, Lupine, Maplewood (near Poplar bend), Marchant, Millet St., Montvale Avenue, Mystic Ave., Reynard, Riverside Ave., Sargent St., Shore Hill Road, Riverside Ave., Thatcher, Thornhill Way, Thurston Point, Warner St., Washington St (at Piraino), Washington St. (near Capt. Hooks), Wheeler Street, Whittemore St.

First Batch streets: Centennial Drive, Cherry St (near O’Maley), Crestwood Ter. – Skywood Ter. (off harrison), Derby St., Elizabeth Road, Essex Ave / Rt. 133 (between Kent Circle and Little River), Fleetwood Dr., Friend Ct., Green St., Grove St &Colonial, Grove near Maplewood, Hampden & Gaffney, Hodgkin St., Lendall St off Harrison, Lupine Lane, Maplewood at Derby, corner Mt Vernon & Oak St, Perkins St., Poplar St., Reservoir Road, Reynard St., Spruce St., Starknaught, Washington St. (between Azorean and the rotary)

countdown clock – Millet St.

More to come. photos: c. ryan, Dec. 6, 2022. Click or pinch and zoom to enlarge.

Map

It’s easy touring whether by car or via smartphone, desktop, or preferred device. Grab a hot chocolate and go or view from home! Imagination and themed repeat visits encouraged.

Notes about the map: This map is great in the embed mode because when you scroll down, each house photo(s) pop up, with a big arrow that directs you to that one point. From a desktop, hovering or right clicking the house icons reveal the photos for each pinpoint. For those who prefer a paper copy –which doubles as a seek and find sheet–click on the three vertical dots and then select “print” (horizontal mode best) from pull down menu. You can also google search Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives Good Morning Gloucester.

2021 Map here

2020 Map here

Animation/GIFs

Finch Lane twinkling tree, Thurston Point Rudolph with your nose so bright, Cleveland chatoyant

Beauty, light, and kindness

Tis’ the season of lights! Bright and colorful festivals of light illuminate dark nights heightening religious and secular celebrations and traditions around the world. October – February holidays include: Diwali, Bodhi Day, Lucia’s Day, Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanza, New Year’s, Lunar New Year, Teng Chieh, and many more.

Reminder! tomorrow Dec. 10, 2022

Gloucester’s Lobster trap tree lighting 4:30pm culminates Gloucester’s enchanting Middle Street Walk (program here) all day 10-4:30pm! Holiday Delights 1pm at the Legion. https://middlestreetwalk.org/

Dec. 10, 2022

Jul Fest Spiran Lodge, Rockport, MA 9am – 1pm

Dec. 20, 2022

Temple Ahavat Achim’s Lobster trap menorah lighting – Hanukkah 18-26 — celebration Dec. 20 5:30-6pm

mini lobster trap tree – Finch Ln

Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives past Gloucester Houses 2022 Map #GloucesterMA 🚗☕🎄🌟⛄

Posted on by Catherine

6th annual Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives Gloucester, Massachusetts – the web-based digital map on Google is now LIVE!

Gloucester 100 sparkling homes added to the map so far. Streets include: Centennial Drive, Cherry St (near O’Maley), Derby St., Elizabeth Road, Essex Ave / Rt. 133 (between Kent Circle and Little River), Fleetwood Dr., Friend Ct., Green St., Grove St &Colonial, Grove near Maplewood, Hampden & Gaffney, Hodgkin St., Lendall St off Harrison, Lupine Lane, Maplewood at Derby, corner Mt Vernon & Oak St, Perkins St., Poplar St., Reservoir Road, Reynard St., Skywood Terrace off Harrison, Spruce St., Starknaught, Washington St. (between Azorean and the rotary)

Bright Nights and Sights.

If you’re looking for holiday cheer any day of the week, you can’t beat the New England charm of twinkling homes and neighborhoods in Gloucester, Massachusetts. For the 6th year in a row, enjoy a selection of seasonal lights and Christmas displays on Gloucester houses. Many streets join in together, glittering, and have for years. Every year is unique. With each passing new day more homes are decorated.  Since 2019, the year’s curated selection –on average some 200+ homes– has been google mapped and each pinpoint has a photo(s).

Scroll down to see the first batch of photos for the 2022 map (as of December 4, 2022), and 2022 trends further down. More homes and neighborhoods will be added, so be sure to check back.

Photos: C. Ryan, Nov. 24, 28, and Dec. 4, 2022

2022 Trends

Trends so far? 2022 is looking like The Year of “JOY” signs, which by the way is an easy & cheery Ispy addition for Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives. Also, illuminated green sequined wreaths and evergreen kissing ball pairs framing doors.

2022 map

It’s easy touring whether by car or via smartphone, desktop, or preferred device. Grab a hot chocolate and go or view from home! Imagination and themed repeat visits encouraged.

Notes about the map: This map is great in the embed mode because when you scroll down, each house photo(s) pop up, with a big arrow that directs you to that one point. From a desktop, hovering or right clicking the house icons reveal the photos for each pinpoint. For those who prefer a paper copy –which doubles as a seek and find sheet–click on the three vertical dots and then select “print” (horizontal mode best) from pull down menu. You can also google search Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives Good Morning Gloucester.

2021 Map here

2020 Map here

Public Art: monumental Pathways mural by Dúo Amazonas #GloucesterMA

Posted on by Catherine

Looping back from Dunfudgin and the high school to Emerson Avenue, I was delighted to encounter the soft and striking mural on the Pathways building, across the street from Open Door and the Veteran’s center.

It’s a city block long!

Gail McCarthy wrote a great piece about the project in the Gloucester Daily Times.

Mural on Pathways for Children in Gloucester, Mass., by Dúo Amazonas | Nati Andreoli and Lina Castellanos, 2022. Instagram @duoamazonas

Gloucester Public Art | Mural Map here

Pumpkins on Crossheads, skeletons, and screams. Happy Halloween and some more fall leaves

Posted on by Catherine

Halloween decorations and leaves changing color. October 2022

same energy, same

Saw some autumn. It was awesome. Early Fall Foliage In Gloucester and Rockport 2022

Posted on by Catherine
Moonrise above Good Harbor Beach Inn

Saw Some Autumn. It Was Awesome 2022 photo series description: Early fall Oct. 2022. Leaves are changing color in Gloucester and Rockport. Fall and Halloween scenes. See 2021 here.

Summer’s simple pleasures: beach towels on railings, sand rinse foot baths on Long Beach, paper lanterns, beach games, and cloud rolls

Posted on by Catherine

Description- Late summer photos. Series around town. Gloucester and Rockport. Good Harbor Beach and Long Beach. Aug-September 2022. Simple pleasures of summer: beach towels on railings hung out to dry; sand rinse foot baths at Long Beach cottages; beach games; paper lanterns; clouds

Beach towels on the railings hung out to dry

Sand rinse foot bath tubs on Long Beach cottages

Beach games – volleyball, beach baseball

Cloud roll

Paper Lanterns

downtown tree in Dock Square and for the playhouse too

Gloucester Schooner Festival 2022

Posted on by Catherine

Gloucester harbor

photo: M. McDonald

Schooners on parade, Gloucester roofs, drought grasses- Schooner Festival 2022 photos © F. Ryan

Red white and blue | scenes from Gloucester July 4th 2022 and today’s front pages

Posted on by Catherine

photos: red, white and blue – c. ryan, July 4, 2022, Gloucester, MA.

Merry Christmas GIFs #GloucesterMA

Posted on by Catherine

GIFs 2021

Gloucester, Massachusetts Christmas GIFs 2021

Festive Neighborhood Lights

Holiday Lights and Cocoa Drives Map 2021 edition features about 200 decorated residential homes with Christmas light displays in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Updated as of 12/11/2021.