This special showing of Shep Abbott’s film More Precious Than Gold will take place at the White-Ellery House, 245 Washington Street in Gloucester. The House is open to the public at no charge on the first Saturday of the month from May through October as part of Escapes North 17th Century Saturdays.

A lively and gripping epic of the first Massachusetts Bay settlement in the New World. This one-hour documentary tells the story of how the city of Gloucester developed through the Indian wars, smallpox epidemics and tragic losses at sea into the country’s premiere fishing port. The film combines live action re-enactments with little known stills, beautiful landscapes and seascapes of the area, interviews with experts and a gripping narration by well known NPR Radio Producer Sandy Tolan. An entertaining and detailed description of life and death in the early years of what became the first constitutional democracy the world had known. Written and Directed by Shep Abbott. Designed for adult viewers and Middle and High School history and humanities students. 

Shep Abbott is a local filmmaker best known for his cinematography on the academy award winning documentary Broken Rainbow.