Gloucester Sunday

We slept in and had a big breakfast breakfast on the boat which resulted in our getting a late start on the day. We took the water taxi ashore and toured the Rocky Neck artist colony. There are dozens of artist galleries in Gloucester most of which are located on Rocky Neck. Many of the artists' works are of New England landscapes or a maritime motif. The cars of gallery visitors lined the street curbs and filled the parking lots near the Rocky Neck galleries and restaurants. We joined the hundreds of people enjoying a relaxing, sunny day on this small piece of land jutting out into the harbor.


Also on Rocky Neck is the the Gloucester Marine Railway which is the oldest continuously operated marine railway in the country. This marine railway began operation in 1859 and has hauled thousands of vessels onto dry hand for maintenance and repairs over its many years operation. Currently, the Friendship of Salem is in dry dock awaiting repairs. She is a replica of the Salem East Indiaman Friendship which was an American merchant ship built in 1797 and sailing out of her home port of Salem. Friendship was captured and taken as a prize ship during the War of 1812. Due to her being in dry dock, we will not be able to tour the Friendship of Salem when we visit Salem on our way south.

https://www.nps.gov/sama/learn/historyculture/friendshiphistory.htm

Gloucester Marine Railway - Friendship of Salem

Friendship of Salem - Gloucester Marine Railway

We spent the rest of the day walking through Gloucester admiring the many old homes and public buildings built during the booming era of the fisheries. Hundreds of schooners caught millions of pounds of fish year after year and returned to Gloucester with their catch. Pictures from the past show schooners rafting three deep at the docks. The earliest fishermen were English settlers whose descendants formed the backbone of the Yankee fishing fleets. Later immigrants, fishermen from Portugal and the Azores, came to Gloucester and helped increase the size of the fishing fleet. The Portuguese immigrants were Roman Catholics and needed a church of their own as they discovered Gloucester was predominantly a Protestant city.

The Portuguese immigrants built a church in 1892 to serve their community. This church burned down in 1914 and it was replaced by the current church, Our Lady of Good Voyage which is a Spanish Revival building, designed to resemble the Santa Maria Madalena church located in the Azores. The church has twin towers and includes one of the oldest sets of full carillon bells in the United States. The Virgin Mary stands between the twin towers and instead of the Infant Jesus in her arms she watches over and cradles a fishing schooner.

Our Lady of Good Voyage Church

Our Lady of Good Voyage