As part of the celebratory events leading up to Gloucester’s 400^th anniversary, the Cape Ann Museum is hosting a book launch party for the fifth edition of the late Joseph E. Garland’s beloved book, The Gloucester Guide: A Stroll through Place and Time on July 28. Free and open to the public!

Schedule

1:00 p.m.   Refreshments & book signing

1:30 p.m.   Remarks

2:00 p.m.   Guided walking tours downtown and to the waterfront that follow Garland’s suggestions in the book*

*Alternative transportation will be available

 → Download the flyer

In this “retrospective ramble,” Garland, an unofficial City historian, maps out nine walking tours through West Gloucester and Magnolia, West Parish, Lanesville to Annisquam, Annisquam and the Mill Rivers, Dogtown, the Farms to Little Good Harbor, East Gloucester to Bass Rocks, Downtown, and the Waterfront. The walks traverse alleys, parks, rivers, and bridges in every corner of Gloucester. Along the way, he muses about the history and people that shaped the culture and legends of Cape Ann. The book contains descriptive historic photos and updated maps to guide the user on each tour.

The Gloucester Guide, was originally published in 1973 as a salute to the city’s 350th anniversary. While much has changed in the City of Gloucester over the past 45 years, the Guide continues to amuse and inform its readers, as well as to express Garland’s unique and timeless view of the city he called home. With the newly revised and updated guide, published by the Cape Ann Museum in association with the Garland Legacy Project, curious adventurers will again have the opportunity to experience Gloucester’s many charms through Garland’s inimitable voice.

Garland wrote more than a dozen books about local Cape Ann history, among them: The North Shore: A Social History of Summers Among the Noteworthy, Fashionable, Rich, Eccentric, and Ordinary on Boston’s Gold Coast, 1823-1929; Bear of the Sea; Eastern Point: A Nautical, Rustical and More or Less Sociable Chronicle of Gloucester’s Outer Shield and Inner Sanctum, 1606-1990; Lone Voyager: The Extraordinary Adventures of Howard Blackburn, Hero Fisherman of Gloucester; Adventure: Queen of the Windjammers; Down to the Sea: The Fishing Schooners of Gloucester; and Mysteries and Adventures Along the Atlantic Coast. A World War II veteran, Garland also wrote Unknown Soldiers: Reliving World War II in Europe in 2008. Prior to becoming an author, Garland worked as a journalist for the Associated Press in Boston, the Providence Journal, the Boston Herald and the Gloucester Daily Times. The columns he wrote for the Gloucester Daily Times are compiled in two volumes: Beating to Windward and Beam Reach.

The Gloucester Guide will be on sale during the celebration and will be available at the Museum Shop and other local bookstores and gift shops on and around Cape Ann.

List price: $19.95

Paperback | 192 pages | 10 maps and 90 historic photographs

→ Download the press release