Rockport, Massachusetts – Rockport takes its name from its industrial past: its 19th-century role as a shipping center for granite cut from the local quarries. While updating the Lonely Planet guide to New England, I decided to investigate this history–to…
Gloucester, Mass – Much of the interior of Cape Ann is wild and undeveloped, partially protected by reservations, but mostly left to the whims of nature and history. This vast territory is known as Dogtown. Little remains from the Colonial-era…
Gloucester, Massachusetts – We are ending our summer the same way we started. We are back at Wingaersheek Beach for the last weekend of summer! Last beach day of the year!
Gloucester, Mass – (Cue Alice Cooper.) School’s out for summer! School’s out for-ever! Time for our annual first-day-of-summer-vacation trip to Wingaersheek Beach. Best way to kick off summer vacation! There’s a few things you can say for certain about going…
Gloucester, Mass – For years, I have fantasized about spending my summer exploring New England’s many glorious beaches, each week checking out a new sandy spot. Normally, we are just too “busy” to do it. We are traveling. Or we…
Rockport, Mass – Here’s the thing about the global pandemic… we got nothing but time. We have none of the things that normally keep us busy in the summer. There’s no day camp. There’s no Ferry Beach. And there’s no…
Gloucester, Mass – A few months ago, I was out for long walk on one of the first warm days of spring. It was the first day that I actually got hot. I daydreamed about cooling off with a dip…
Gloucester, Mass – Some obligatory photos from my day on Cape Ann (the other cape).