My mom and I visited the Cape Ann Museum a week or so ago when we spent a day exploring Gloucester…read more The museum is really wonderful. It's an art and historical museum dedicated to the art, history, and culture of Cape Ann. Their collection includes a collection of Fitz Henry Lane maritime and landscape paintings, the original Thacher Island Fresnel lens, a wooden sculpture that used to top the Parish of Our Lady of Good Voyage Church, and lots of paintings of Cape Ann. When we visited last week (and through September 27, 2026), they have an incredible exhibit: "Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea." The exhibit is presented through a collaboration between the Cape Ann Museum and the Phillips Collection in DC, and it explores the bond between three 20th century artists who shared summers in Gloucester in the 1920s-1940s. The exhibit is really special, so if you're visiting Gloucester before September 27, run don't walk to the Cape Ann Museum. It's a great little regional museum, definitely worth a visit if you're visiting Cape Ann for the firsts time!

Over the top value in local history of New England thoroughly enjoyed my day trip there.read more

Family friendly. The kids loved the touch tanks and the free science lessons on the spot!…read more Maritime Museum is small, so you can easily do that and still have time for a whale watch nearby.

Kelsey (Natural Resources Education) and Justin (Historian) make this museum come ALIVE!…read more This place is an absolute gem. Thank you to the staff for presenting a wonderful display of natural history and seafaring artifacts. We'll visit again!

My mom and I toured Beauport when we visited Gloucester for a day a week or so ago and it was one…read moreof the many highlights of our Cape Ann trip. The house was built in 1908 as the summer home of interior decorate and antique collector Henry Davis Sleeper. Sleeper designed this unique house, where he lived until his death, when it was bough by Charles and Helena Woolworth McCann. They preserved most of Sleeper's designs and decor (making only a few modifications) until their heirs donated the house to Historic New England in 1947. The house is full of incredible decor: a kitchen that utilized 17th century paneling from his mother's ancestral home, a central hall with an incredible amber glass cabinet, a dining room with incredible views of the Harbor, an Octagon Room, and so much more. We reserved our tour ahead of time, and three others joined our tour. Our guide was wonderful, and we learned so much about this unique house, Henry Davis Sleeper, and the McCanns. Our time in Gloucester was wonderful, but Beauport was one of the highlights of our time there. It's a really incredible house, and I'm so glad we had time in our itinerary for a tour!

My girlfriend and I toured Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, on Friday, August 8th…read more The house was beautiful and we enjoyed the wonderful interior designs, but unfortunately our tour was tainted by our rude, disrespectful, and unprofessional tour guide. Shortly upon beginning the tour, our guide, Alberta Hill, made an extremely rude and uncalled-for comment, slut-shaming and embarrassing my girlfriend in front of the entire tour group for her clothing. Her outfit was not that revealing- it was a hot day and she had on shorts and a tank top- but even if it were, it would not grant a tour guide the right to treat a guest in this manner. It's sad that what was otherwise such a fun experience was impacted by an insensitive guide who made my girlfriend feel uncomfortable and self-conscious. It's disappointing that Historic New England would employ someone with such an old-fashioned mentality, someone who would go out of her way to police another woman's body and enforce traditional gender norms. This is especially troubling to see at the Beauport Sleeper-McCann House, a space that was once a sanctuary for the queer Henry Davis Sleeper and a pinnacle of early individual expression. I would expect those employed by the Beauport house to reject moral conservatism and embrace personal freedoms and expression, but sadly Alberta did not.

Castles have always reminded me of fairy tales. But Hammond Castle is a fairy tale with a…read moredistinctly Gothic twist. There was something about the story of its lonely owner and the maze of dark little passageways, hidden entrances, and unexpected exits between rooms that gave me chills. It felt less like I was walking through a castle and more like I had stepped into a fortress where it is eternally Halloween.... Why - because this castle has the unique story of being built from ruins of so many European structures, real structures. Roman pillars from Italian ruins, medieval doorways from French monasteries sometimes even entire rooms dismantled stone by stone and shipped. This inventor (known for the remote control and 400 odd patents), was no doubt super rich, who dreamed and created one of a kind castle to live in. He delighted in calling him the preserver of heritage, some called it plunder and also claimed it was cursed having been built on ruins. No wonder, there are innumerable 'stories' of haunting associated with this castle. There are plenty amazing locations for pictures. The architecture is captivating, it is a popular location for weddings given the dramatic backdrop. Costing anywhere between $6000 to $10K just for the space. I was cautious to walk with my tour group when inside the castle, it was not just to listen to the many interesting scraps of information but also to ensure am surrounded by people......lol Hammond Castle is perched directly on a rocky cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, so its pretty scenic in soo many ways. Its beautiful, its strange, it has loads of mini stories from past and present, something very different. Was I able to pique your interest yet .... ?!

I visited Hammond Castle Museum with my mom a week or so ago when we spent a long weekend on Cape…read moreAnn, and we loved our time there! Hammond Castle is a 20th century castle! It was built by John Hays Hammond, Jr., who was a very wealthy inventor and all around quirky guy. To make a long story short, Jr. offended his upper crust parents by picking a woman they considered inappropriate to be his wife (a divorcee from a family they didn't consider worthy to marry into the family). They kicked him out of the family castle down the road, so he built his castle - a bigger one. Hammond Jr. was a collector, and he traveled around Europe after both world wars and was able to collect beautiful pieces of European art and architecture that became part of the house. So the castle was built between 1926 and 1929, but it contains elements from 15th, 16th, and 18th century European architecture. You can tour the Castle by self-guided or guided tours, but I highly recommend a guided tour. Our tour guide was Leila, and she was incredible - funny, informative, charming! She walked us around, into several areas of the castle, and then we explored more areas on our own after the guided tour. The castle is incredible. The architecture and art are incredible, and there are great stories behind a lot of both (some pieces and elements have questionable provenance)! The castle also has great views. We had tickets for the first tour of the day on a Saturday. I highly recommend going early and getting a tour in the morning. When we arrived around 9 for our 9:30 tour, the parking lot was pretty empty. When we left around 11, the parking lot was entirely full and there were several cars with their flashers on waiting to be able to pull into a spot as people left. It's a popular spot, so if you're visiting on a weekend, go early if you can. Or be prepared to wait for a parking spot or take a rideshare! Hammond Castle is quirky, beautiful, interesting, fun. It should definitely be on your itinerary if you're visiting Cape Ann if you like art, architecture, history, quirky places... There's so much to enjoy about Hammond Castle!

Historic little gem in Rockport! Beautiful old building with many open rooms full of local artist's…read morework. The venue itself if free to walk in and browse through the paintings, and house a little gift shop and small donations box. Remember that spare change you've got in your back pocket? Toss it in here! High quality paintings and photography. Personally I know absolutely nothing about art appraisal, and prices so I was shocked to see the prices of some paintings. They seemed to range from $1,200 to $16,000!! That's crazy to me! But hey-- someone put time and effort in their work and it is very evident! There's two floors of rooms as well as another building connected by a quaint little garden area. The whole place takes at least 30 minutes to walk around to admire and take in the work, so give yourself some time!

Reasonably priced art in a terrific venue...just wished it would have been easier to find someone…read moreto chat with about the art let alone purchase something.

What a great find. Not sure if I found this on Roadside America website or here on Yelp, but this…read morelittle house is so interesting. Located in someone's yard, at first it seems odd to just walk in, but that's exactly what you do. We parked roadside. They ask for a small donation: cash in a box by the main house's door, or venmo. Absolutely worth it. It's interesting to see paper walls. Paper chairs and tables. Paper lamps. Paper clock and piano too (with metal innards) of course. I enjoyed looking for dates and headlines on the papers. It's a small cottage making it a quick stop along the way. If you're in the area add it to your itinerary.

We were visiting rock port and heard about the paper house, we had to make a stop!…read more It's in someone's yard but it's completely free and open to the public. It's such an interesting house and all the furniture throughout is entirely made from old rolled newspapers. Such a marvel to see! Doesn't take long but worth the stop.

We visited The Little Art Cinema in September 2024, we saw the poster for Terrance Malick's…read more'Badlands' on the notice board outside. Later when we tried to find a website to confirm the screening we weren't able to find one. So we went along at the time on the poster, and found we were the only attendees. The guy running the cinema was a true individual, running a film classic single handed. He initially had trouble with the projection, and asked if I could help out (it was a disc), which I did and we settled down together to watch. Our take on this experience is that to us this guy is a true hero to film, he clearly struggles somewhat with the technology and said he doesn't really do computers (hence no up to date website), but he is single-handedly trying to keep this place alive. Please support this cinema, either by visiting, donating, but most importantly helping out if you are local, or just getting in touch with a message of support. We were visiting from England, and in the interests of full disclosure I am a film cameraman, but to anyone who cares about seeing film on a big screen, this slightly quirky but uplifting experience was one that will stay with us. For those who have seen Capra's 'Meet John Doe' you can meet him personified at The Little Art Cinema, Rockport https://www.littleartrockport.com/

a quirky place to see a film. I felt like I was in some sort of movie being there. It smells…read moremusty, the theater is an open hall space, the seats are folding chairs and the charm is amazing. go here just for the experience, 100% worth it. Good films too. ok, Update time: I have since seen two more flicks here this past summer. I love this place. The owner is really cool, he found us in the theater to give us sparkling water with cups to share before the film began. The films always seem to break, or in one case burn, but it really is apart of the whole atmosphere. My friend and I always end up having a few moments that we end up laughing about later on.... charm, relaxed and quirky.

Sadly there is no Museum here, just a Historical Marker (see photo) to those brave Puritans who…read morerisked their lives landing on this exact spot in 1623. The group arrived three years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Initially at Stage Fort Park and later on the other side of Gloucester Harbor. These immigrants were part of the Dorchester Company and had been looking for a location to develop a fishing port. They found it across the bay, naming after Gloucester, England. So only Three Stars, "A-OK" for this minimalistic effort. Heck, the Pilgrims have a granite shrine.

There is an indescribable feeling walking around where my ancestors settled over 300 years ago.read more