Gloucester Harbor is located on Cape Ann at Massachusetts Bay about 30 miles northeast of Boston. It has been a maritime and fishing center since the first colonists arrived there in 1623. It is home to the famous Fisherman’s Memorial, a bronze monument honoring those who have been lost at sea. Gloucester Harbor’s shipping and fishing history has inspired several literary works, including Kipling’s Captains Courageous, Connolly’s Gloucestermen, and Longfellow’s "The Wreck of the Hesperus." While fish-based industry is the economic foundation for the community, it has also been recognized as a popular summer resort area. The 2000 US Census reported a population of just over 30 thousand.

Samuel de Champlain entered Gloucester Harbor in 1606, naming it “Le Beauport.” Several years later in 1614, Captain John Smith came here. When he presented a map of the new colonies’ eastern coast to Prince Charles, he had named the land Cape Anne after his mother.

Gloucester Harbor is the first settlement in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Settled in 1623 by men from Dorchester, England, it pre-dates Salem (1626) and Boston (1630). The Dorchester party landed at Half Moon Beach and settled there in what is known today as Stage Fort Park.

Life was hard there, and about 1626, the colonists abandoned the settlement and moved to today’s Salem, Massachusetts. They even took apart their meeting house and moved it to the new settlement. But the area was resettled over the years and formally incorporated in 1642.

Unlike many New England coastal towns, Gloucester Harbor development did not focus on the harbor. People first settled inland, almost two miles from the waterfront, where they placed the Town Green and the first school.

The colonists lived on subsistence farming and logging. But the soil and hills of Cape Ann did not permit large-scale farming, and small family farms and their livestock supported the local economy. Fishing was not yet important to the community. Limited to near-shore, subsistence fishing complemented families’ farm and livestock.

Residents of Gloucester Harbor cleared much of the forest on Cape Ann, using the land for farms and pastures and using the lumber for building from Massachusetts Bay to Boston. Forests did not reclaim the land until the 20th Century. For many years, the community was made up of small dwellings scattered without pattern throughout the hills and swamps.

By 1718, a second parish was formed when, although still a part of the town of Gloucester Harbor, settlers across the river built their own meeting house and cemetery. Then in 1728, a third parish was formed to the north. By 1754, there were five parishes in the settlement of Gloucester Harbor stretching east to what is now Rockport.

Early in its history, the town was a shipbuilding center. The first schooner is thought to have been built there in 1713. Being near Georges Bank and fishing banks off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the town became an important fishing port. By the mid-1800s, Gloucester Harbor fishermen were well-known to the region.

In 1849, John Pew & Sons founded a seafood business that became Gorton’s of Gloucester. In the late 1800s, immigrants from Portugal and Italy began arriving to work in Gloucester’s fishing industry, changing the New England “Yankee” character of the town and its culture.

In the 350 years that Gloucester Harbor fishermen have sailed, the town has lost over 10,000 men in the Atlantic Ocean. A huge mural in City Hall lists the names of those lost in memory to their courage and sacrifice. Ocean fishing is still a dangerous business, as evidenced by the loss of the Andrea Gail during the famous 1991 “Perfect Storm.”

Gloucester Harbor is a full-service port and regional hub for the commercial fishing industry in New England. Its infrastructure supports fishermen, not only from Gloucester Harbor, but from nearby Rockport and far-away Ellsworth, Maine, or Cape May, New Jersey.

Due to decreasing landings of fish since the 1980s, Gloucester Harbor’s status as a port and regional hub is threatened. Local businesses that have supported fishing and fishermen for centuries as now either failing or moving away from fishing to other activities.

The experience of Gloucester Harbor demonstrates that the idea of inexhaustible natural resources is indeed a myth. From after America’s Civil War, Gloucester Harbor thrived on large-scale groundfishing in the Atlantic Ocean. Catches of cod, haddock, redfish, and flounder were plentiful and seemingly endless. As the 20th Century approached, the industry sought new technologies to boost the harvest, and those technologies worked well. Without regulations to restrain the volume of fishing, overexploitation went on unchecked.

But the industry grew too efficient, and news of the rich fishing off Georges Bank attracted fishing fleets from Russia, Poland, East Germany, Japan, and Spain. The US government took regulatory action to try to protect the fishing resources for its citizens, slowing the onslaught. But in the 1950s, modern new ships replaced the old wooden fishing boats, and new floating processing plants increased efficiency in plundering the sea.

The high-water mark for New England’s fishing industry came in the 1980s when fishermen harvested the last plentiful crop of adult haddock. Since then, harvests of almost all species have declined, and the industry has collapsed. The US Congress has been forced to establish programs to help many failing New England communities by buying vessels, retraining fishermen to other occupations, and subsidizing health insurance for families dependent on fishing.

Today, species that once fed Americans by the millions are “commercially extinct.” These include Atlantic halibut, haddock, yellowtail flounder, and ocean perch. Even the popular Atlantic Cod may soon join the list of species that are commercially extinct.

Today, Gloucester Harbor and Cape Ann are popular destinations for tourists and vacationers looking for a quiet retreat from the busy world. The City of Gloucester proudly boasts its status as “America’s oldest seaport.” Champlain called it “Le Beauport” when he saw its beautiful harbor with rugged rocky shores.

Visitors to Gloucester Harbor will enjoy awesome natural beauty, colonial history, a picturesque working port, and a world-class art colony. Less than an hour from Boston, Gloucester Harbor offers summer cottages and quaint bed-and-breakfasts where visitors can stay while they explore the historic area of Cape Ann.

You may choose to go on a whale watching trip or charter a boat for some exciting deep sea fishing. You can enjoy a romantic dinner, go to a concert, or attend a show as good as any on Broadway. Visit Gloucester Harbor’s tourism website to find a list of things to do that includes beach combing, bird watching, local cruises and tours, outdoor activities like kayaking, dining, and shopping.

Must sees while you’re in Gloucester Harbor include the well-known Fisherman’s Memorial Statue depicting an “Old Salt” at the wheel of his ship battling a storm. The Rocky Neck Art Colony is the oldest art colony in the US, and it features galleries, bars, and restaurants.

Since Cape Ann is located between two important whale-feeding grounds, the 7 Seas Whale Watching Tour has been operating for more than 25 years to thrill visitors with sights of whales, dolphins, and a variety of seabirds.

Halibut Point State Park, just three miles north of town, recalls Gloucester Harbor’s days as a center for granite. In the summer, you can take weekend tours of the quarry and enjoy granite cutting demonstrations.

You may also want to take a look at the 1922 Paper House, a house built completely from newspapers.