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Renting an Apartment in Gloucester
What You Should Know
Gloucester is a city on Cape Ann in Essex County,
Massachusetts, in the United States. It is part of Boston's North Shore. As of
the 2000 census, the city population was 30,273. An important center of the
fishing industry and a popular summer resort, Gloucester consists of an urban
core on the north side of the harbor and the outlying neighborhoods of Annisquam,
Bay View, Lanesville, Folly Cove, Magnolia, Riverdale, East Gloucester and West
Gloucester. It is bounded by Rockport to the east, Ipswich Bay to the north,
Essex and Manchester to the west and Massachusetts Bay to the south.
Bus transit throughout the area is provided by the Cape Ann Transportation
Authority.
History
The boundaries of Gloucester originally included the town of Rockport, in an
area dubbed "Sandy Bay." That village separated formally on February 27, 1840.
In 1873, Gloucester was reincorporated as a city.
Early Gloucester
Gloucester was founded at Cape Ann by an expedition called the "Dorchester
Company" of men from Dorchester (in the county of Dorset, England) chartered by
James I in 1623. This date allows Gloucester to boast the first settlement in
what would become the Massachusetts Bay Colony, as this town's first settlement
predates both Salem, Massachusetts in 1626, and Boston in 1630. 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.
The life of this first settlement was as harsh as it was short-lived. Around
1626 the place was abandoned, and the people removed themselves to Naumkeag
(what is now called Salem, Massachusetts), 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 Route 128 mingles with a major city
street (Washington Street/ Rt 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 ancient 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 Green is also where the settlers built the first school. By
Massachusetts Bay Colony Law, any town boasting 100 families or more had to
provide a public schoolhouse. This requirement was met in 1698, with Thomas
Riggs standing as the town's first School-Master.
Early industry included subsistence farming and logging. Because of the poor
soil and rocky hills, Cape Ann was not well suited for farming on a large scale.
Small family farms and livestock provided the bulk of the sustinence to the
population. Fishing, for which the town is known today, was limited to
close-to-shore, with families subsisting on small catches as opposed to the
great bounties yielded in later years. The fisherman of Gloucester did not yet
command the Grand Banks until the mid-18th Century.
Early Gloucestermen cleared great swaths of the forest of Cape Ann for farm and
pasture land, using the timber to build structures as far away as Boston. The
rocky moors of Gloucester remained clear for two centuries until the forest
reclaimed the land in the 20th Century. The inland part of the island became
known as the 'Commons' the 'Common Village' or "Dogtown". Here small dwellings
lay scattered amongst the boulders and swamps, along roads that meandered
through the hills. These dwellings were at times little more than shanties, only
one was even two-stories tall. Despite their size, several generations of
families were raised in such houses. One feature of the construction of these
houses was that under one side of the floor was dug a cellar hole (for the
keeping of food), supported by a foundation of laid-stone (without mortar).
These cellar holes are still visible today along the trails throughout the
inland part of Gloucester; they, and some walls, are all that remain of the
village there.
Growth
The town grew, and eventually colonists lived on the opposite side of the
Annisquam River. This, in a time of legally mandated church attendance, was a
long way to walk - or row - on a Sunday morning. In 1718 the settlers on the
opposite shore of the river split off from the First Parish community at the
Green and formed 'Second Parish.' While still part of the Town of Gloucester,
the people of Second, or 'West', Parish now constructed their own Meetinghouse
and designated their own place of burial, both of which were in the hills near
the marshes behind Wingaersheek Beach. The Meeting house is gone now, but deep
in the woods on the Second Parish Road trail one can still find the scattered
stones of the abandoned Burial Ground.
Other parts of town later followed suit. Third Parish, in Northern Gloucester,
was founded in 1728. Fourth Parish split off from First Parish in 1742. Finally,
in 1754, the people of Sandy Bay (what would later be called Rockport) split off
from First Parish to found Fifth Parish. The Sandy Bay church founding was the
last religious re-ordering of the Colonial Period. All of these congregations
still exist in some form with the exception of Fourth Parish, the site of whose
meeting house is now a highway.
Points of interest
* Dogtown Common
* Ravenswood Park
* Annisquam