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National Heritage Areas (Non-Units) - Massachusetts

Essex National Heritage Area

8/8/2005 Drove up to Gloucester to check out the Maritime Heritage Center, part of the Essex National Heritage Area. Saw a small maritime museum and small aquarium, then walked out on the pier for really nice views, seeing all kinds of boats and the boat railway (dry dock area with a restored boat in progress). From there to Cape Pond Ice for a “cool” tour of the ice making company. Saw the huge blocks they make for ice carving, as well as the small ice production. Outside saw the ice loading area where they put tons of ice on boats like the Andrea Gail from The Perfect Storm (Cape Pond Ice was in the movie). Continued on a short ways to the main promenade with the Fisherman statue and memorial (including the Perfect Storm men). Got a hot dog to eat by the harbor, then on the road to Essex. Stopped at the Shipbuilding Museum where we saw a film from 60 years ago on Essex and wooden ship building, then took a walking tour with an excellent guide of the ship yards and nearby model museum.

The Maritime Center sign and me

Boat restoration ...

... and details

The ice house sign

Ken feeling cool

The Gloucester Fisherman

Shipbuilding Museum Heritage Area sign

Gloucester Memorial

The Shipbuilding Museum

Boat under restoration

6/13/2021 Lowell’s Boat Shop NHL (Amesbury). Also in the Essex NHA. Considered to be the birthplace of the legendary New England fishing dory, later further developed into the simplified Banks dory design, a mainstay of New England's fishing fleets. John Greenleaf Whittier House NHL (Amesbury). Also in the Essex NHA. The 1811 house was the home of the poet and abolitionist from 1836 until his death in 1892.

A wide view of the Boat Shop ...

... and a little closer

Boat planter

A view on the water ...

... with some of the dories

A view from the other side

Me photoing ...

... the NHL plaque

The JGW sign

A front view ...

...  one side ...

... and the other

Tough view of the NHL plaque

11/19/2025 NHL Adventure Schooner. This gaff rigged knockabout schooner is one of the last surviving Gloucester-based Grand Banks fishing schooners, and one of only two surviving "knockabout" fishing schooners (ships designed without bowsprits). This is in the Essex National Heritage Area. We continued into a very upscale area on the peninsula of Eastern Point (with concerning signs about the road being for residents and guests) to stop at ... NHL Beaufort. Situated on the rocks overlooking Gloucester Harbor, Beauport was built in 1908 as the summer home of interior decorator and antique collector Henry Davis Sleeper. Here we made good use of Ken’s extension pole to get some good shots over the wall and hedges, the sight being closed. Beaufort is also in the Essex NHA. ... NHL Spencer-Peirce-Little House. On a Colonial American farm originally granted to John Spencer, this is a rare example of a 17th-century (1690) stone house in New England, relatively unchanged despite additions over the centuries. The house and farm are in the Essex NHA.

Sign for the ...

... Adventure NHL (in the background)

The schooner is all wrapped up

Beaufort NHL sign

Ken and camera on a pole ...

... for one shot ...

... and another location ...

... for another shot

Ken photos ...

... the NHL plaque

The sign for ...

Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm

A side view of ...

... Spencer-Peirce-Little House NHL

A look at the animals ...

... on the farm