Author Chester Brigham will discuss his latest book on the history of this Gloucester landmark. Book signing to follow the talk. Free for CAM members / $10 nonmembers (includes Museum admission).

Free for Museum members / $10 nonmembers (includes Museum admission). Reservations online at Eventbrite or by calling (978) 283-0455 x10.

It was the 1920s, and flapper-age fervor was in high gear in Gloucester, Massachusetts, fueled by illegal booze flowing into every cove and beach from rum row vessels off-shore.With local law enforcement outmatched, the Coast Guard set up a cutter station to combat the rum runners. Here are tales of the police chief who dressed as a flapper to infiltrate bootleg circles, and of the convicted bootleggers who, after their stay in a federal penitentiary, were welcomed back to town with a reception at the train station, complete with brass band.

For Chester Brigham, Goose Cove in Gloucester has always been home port, even when he was off in college, in the service, or earning a living as a freelance business writer. Since returning to the cove full-time, he has focused on writing about the many dimensions of Gloucester and Cape Ann fisheries history and the arts. He is the author of the following books: The Stream I Go A-Fishing In, Gloucester’s Bargain With the Sea, On Opposite Tacks, and Phoenix of the Seas: “Ernestina-Morrissey,” State Ship of Massachusetts.