Cape Ann Memories

I spent three gorgeous days last week with my mom and sister on Cape Ann, just north of Boston. Heather and I wanted to take Mom somewhere special for her 75th birthday (which was in July).  She chose Cape Ann because she used to vacation at Folly Cove every summer when she was growing up and hadn't been back in years.

We left Wednesday morning and arrived in Gloucester in time to have a picnic lunch at Stage Fort Park.  According to a bronze plaque mounted on a huge boulder, the first settlers arrived here from Dorchester, England, in 1623 and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

After lunch, we drove through Gloucester and proceeded to Rockport, where we checked into the Lantana House B&B.  We got settled into our room, then headed out to explore the town on foot.  We visited the harbor, then walked out to the Headlands, which offered a gorgeous look back at the town, as well as out to sea.  We then returned to town for some shopping and visited Bearskin Neck for the first, but not the last, time.

The Lantana House

Rockport Harbor

The iconic Motif #1,
"the most-often painted building in America."

Heather and Mom

Mom resting at the Headlands, after braving the rocky trail

Rockport Harbor from the Headlands

A "piece of art" on the Headlands

A lobsterman checking his traps

The sign at the entrance to Bearskin Neck
 tells the story of an ill-fated Ursus.

Bearskin Neck street scene

Late in the afternoon, we took to the car and headed for Folly Cove, where, as a child, my mom spent a week each summer with her father's extended family.  I was named for her father.  "Lauri" is a Finnish man's name (technically, I should have an "e" on the end to make it feminine).   Mom has fond memories of playing on the rocky beach with her sister and cousins.  

There is a small pull-off overlooking Folly Cove.

The rocky beach where my mother and aunt used to play

We continued on to Essex for dinner at Woodman's, where legend has it fried clams were invented in 1916 and the best can still be found.  Mom and I gave them a try and, although they were delicious, didn't rate them the best we've ever had (a quick Google search yielded this 10 Best Clam Shacks piece, and I'm thinking I need to try them all to draw my own conclusion).  Heather had the scallops and gave them a thumbs-up.  

I haven't seen the movie "Grown Ups,"
but apparently there's a scene shot at Woodman's.

Thursday morning, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast of homemade granola and coffee cake with fresh fruit, then headed back to Gloucester, where we repeatedly drove in circles trying to find our destinations.  No wonder people took to the sea....

Our first stop was the Cape Ann Museum.  It just re-opened in August, following an extensive renovation.  Mom wanted to see the exhibit on the Folly Cove Designers.  This group of craftspeople (mostly women), led and taught by Virginia Lee Burton, created linoleum blocks and printed them mostly on fabric.  They started in 1938 and continued until shortly after Burton died in 1969.  Mom remembers them from her youth and still has a Folly Cove Designers bureau scarf.

I love the colors they used.

Some linoleum blocks

A print showing the entire process,
from brainstorming, to carving the
linoleum, to printing, often done by
jumping up and down on the block.

Virginia Lee Burton also wrote children's books,
most notably Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel,
which was one of my favorites.

The museum had room after room of fascinating and beautiful maritime art and artifacts.  One of my favorites was the first-order Fresnel lens that operated in the south tower on Thacher Island, off the coast of Cape Ann, from 1861 to 1980.  It contains more than 1,000 glass prisms and weighs more than a ton.  It's displayed behind a scrim and makes quite an impression when you round the corner.

The light from Thacher Island

After the museum, we walked around the shops on Main St.  We asked a clerk where to find a good lobster roll, and she replied, "You're in luck -- the Cruiseport Inn has $10 ones every Thursday, and they're loaded with meat."  She gave us directions, and we got in the car and searched with no luck, until we realized it was the Seaport Inn at the Cruiseport, which we had passed at least twice.  It was worth the hassle, however.  Best. Lobstah roll. Evah.

After lunch, we drove back to the harbor to visit the famous Fishermen's Memorial.  It was erected in 1923, to mark the town's 300th anniversary.  It faces the harbor and a semicircle of bronze plaques listing the more than 5,300 residents lost at sea since 1623.  The most famous, of course, are the six men caught aboard the swordfishing boat Andrea Gail during "The Perfect Storm" of 1991.  Between 1860 and 1906, however, more than 660 ships sank, taking 3,880 men with them.

  

After a stop at a thrift store that I'd found on the Internet (and we barely located in real life), we went back to Rockport and relaxed in our room for a bit.  We then drove out to the end of Bearskin Neck and walked to the shops that we'd skipped the day before.  

The sign outside one shop caught my eye.  It was the Kaihlanen Gallery, which I recognized as a Finnish surname, with the first names Hilda and Lauri.  Since I'd never met a man named Lauri, other than my grandfather, we had to go in.  Unfortunately, he wasn't in, but the woman working there was excited to learn about our Finnish heritage and insisted we return the next morning, when he would be there.  I was taken with his colorful, whimsical works, particularly a psychedelic giraffe.

We strolled the street and enjoyed the harbor at twilight.  After a "dinner" of ice cream, we retired for the evening, and I fell asleep thinking about the jaunty giraffe.

"My" giraffe is in the bottom row, third from the right.

Rockport Harbor at low tide

Motif #1 and boats

Friday morning, we had another delicious breakfast, then loaded up the car.  By then, I had decided I couldn't leave town without the giraffe print, so we returned to the Kaihlanen Gallery.  And what a blessing that was!  Lauri was there, and he was every bit as cheerful and friendly as his artwork.  It turns out that he spent a lot of time at Folly Cove as a kid and remembered my mom's uncles and cousins.  We talked with him for about half an hour and all left with beautiful pieces that he signed and dated.  The giraffe now watches me intently as I type.

Lauri and Lauri (with a lovely print
of Motif #1 that I also purchased).

We hit the road for Western Mass., agreeing that it had been a wonderful trip.  The weather was glorious, the scenery spectacular, and the company top-notch.  We had come to honor Mom's memories of long ago, but we left with lovely, new ones of our own.  Someday I will take Sarah there and tell her about the terrific time that Grammy, Heshy, and I had.