A Walking Tour of Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester’s deep water harbor attracted a group of Englishmen from the Dorchester Company, who
landed here in 1623 to fish and to establish a settlement. This first company of pioneers made landing
at Half Moon Beach, and settled nearby, setting up fishing stages in a field in what is now Stage Fort
Park. This settlement’s existence is proclaimed today by a memorial tablet, affixed to a 50’ boulder in
that park.
This settlement allows Gloucester to boast the first settlement in what would become the
Massachusetts Bay Company, as this town’s first settlement predates both Salem in 1626 and Boston
in 1630. Life in this first settlement was harsh and it was short-lived. Around 1626 the place was
abandoned, and the people removed themselves to Naumkeag (what is now called Salem) , where
more fertile soil for planting was to be found. The meetinghouse was even disassembled and relocated
to the new place of settlement. At some point in the following years - though no record exists - the
area was slowly resettled. The town was formally incorporated in 1642. It is at this time that the name
“Gloucester” first appears on tax rolls, although in various spellings. The town took its name from
the great Cathedral City in South-West England, where it is assumed many of its new occupants
originated.
This new permanent settlement focused on the Town Green area, an inlet in the marshes at a bend in
the Annisquam River. This area is now the site of Grant Circle, a large traffic-rotary at which MA 128
mingles with a major city street (Washington Street/MA 127. Here the first permanent settlers built a
meeting house and therefore focused the nexus of their settlement on the ‘Island’ for nearly 100 years.
Unlike other early coastal towns in New England, development in Gloucester was not focused around
the harbor as it is today, rather it was inland that people settled first. This is evidenced by the placement
of the Town Green nearly two miles from the harbor-front.
The town was an important shipbuilding center, and the first schooner was reputedly built there in
1713. Gloucester thus became the country’s first fishing port. By the late 19th century, Gloucester was
a record-setting port for fisheries under sail. Gloucester’s most famous (and nationally recognized)
seafood business was founded in 1849 -- John Pew & Sons. It became Gorton-Pew Fisheries in
1906, and in 1957 changed its name to Gorton’s of Gloucester. The iconic image of the “Gorton’s
Fisherman” and the products he represents, are known throughout the country and beyond. Besides
catching and processing seafood, Gloucester is also a center for fish research. The city remained a
fishing center as waves of immigrants – primarily Nova Scotian, Sicilian and Portuguese – came to fish
the waters off Cape Ann. Fishing remains an important part of the local economy.
This walking tour will start on Gloucester’s famous waterfront and work its way up the hillside...
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