Gloucester - Hammond Castle

We took the MBTA bus to Hammond Castle which was built for John Hays Hammond, Jr. just prior to the great Wall Street Crash of 1929. The castle has been featured in the Travel Channel's "Castle Secrets and Legends" and "Ghost Hunters". Of course, the castle is haunted as proven by the cast of "Ghost Hunters". Hammond's wife, Eileen Garret, was a well-known psychic. Reportedly, she and her husband continue to enjoy their unusual home. We left before dark.

Hammond Castle

Hammond Castle

Mr. Hammond was a great inventor and only Thomas Edison, who he met as a young boy, held more patents. Hammond is known as "The Father of Remote Control". He was also a leader in the development of radio and sound recording technology. Hammond was a millionaire by age 19.



Hammond was also an avid sailor. One of his prize possessions is claimed to be the skull of one of Christopher Columbus' crew when America was "discovered". One of Hammond's experimental projects involved building a yacht and sailing it by remote control from Gloucester to Boston and back. This was a round-trip journey of 120 miles.

We began our trip back to downtown Gloucester by foot. The bus drove us the 2.5 miles to the castle and we hiked the 2.5 miles back. We try to get 5 miles of walking in when we are ashore. We not only get our exercise, we also get to see some of the interesting sights we would have missed in these historic towns.

Dinner was once again at the Blue Collar Lobster Company. Twin lobsters $20. Corn on the cob $2 Beer $6. The view priceless.

Morris Dancers

We came across a troop of Morris Dancers performing in the street on Harbor Loop. This was a pleasant surprise and we watched until they finished dancing about 30 minutes after our arrival. Morris Dancers have been performing for centuries. William Shakespeare makes reference to them in his play "All's Well That Ends Well". Morris dancing is a folk dance performed in the open air in rural England (and now in America). The dancers traditionally are dressed in white and wear bells attached to their legs below the knee. In their hands they hold either handkerchiefs to wave or sticks which can be struck together. The Morris dancers we watched danced Cotswold Morris and their music was played on tin pipe, drum, fiddle and concertina.