Join Museum docents for mini-tours throughout the day designed specifically to showcase various aspects of the collection. Space is limited – first come, first served. Specific tour times and subjects are listed below. Free for Museum members, youth 18 and under, and Cape Ann residents; otherwise included with Museum admission.

10:15 a.m.   Getting Lost and Being Found
Where are we? A tour through the galleries to visit some Cape Ann neighborhoods as seen through the eyes of its artists and sculptors. Tour will be led by Jill Carter.

11:00 a.m.   Seeing the Light – Navigation and Lighthouses
An exploration of why navigation was iffy during the age of sail, why landfalls could be the most dangerous part of a voyage, and why the Fresnel lens (located in the Museum’s newest gallery) was a true breakthrough. Tour will be led by Gail Anderson. 

11:45 a.m.   What Happened to Realism in 20th Century Painting?
How the development of new styles of painting reflect changes in the world of art. Tour will be led by Ingrid Swanson.

12:30 p.m.   The Captains and the Stowaway
Meet the intrepid mariners who resided in the Davis homestead, including a stowaway. Tour will be led by John Huss.

1:15 p.m.   Artists at Play
An exploration of artwork produced by several esteemed Cape Ann artists in their “free” time away from the commissions and projects that paid the bills. Learn more about their human side and the importance of this extracurricular art. Tour will be led by Elaine Ohlson.

2:00 p.m.   Cape Ann is the World
Considering Cape Ann as a microcosm of the United States, this brief tour will demonstrate the impact and influence of immigrants who settled in the area. Tour will be led by Trudi Olivetti.

2:45 p.m.   Gloucestermen: Doing Business on Great Waters – The Age of Fishing Under Sail
For three centuries, more than a thousand handsome, fast, wooden schooners, built on Cape Ann and manned by tough, courageous men, set sail out of Gloucester to bring back tens of thousands of tons of fish from the cold waters of the North Atlantic, from the Carolinas to Greenland. The men who fished and the ships they sailed were proudly called Gloucestermen. Tour will be led by Tom Halsted.

Image credits, left to right: Charles Hopkinson (1869-1962), Three Dancing Girls, 1915-1923. Oil on canvas. Private collection, on loan to the Cape Ann Museum; Stuart Davis (1892-1964), Gloucester Terraces, 1916. Ink and crayon on paper. Museum purchase, 2000. [2000.30]; Ralph Coburn (b. 1923), Morning, 2000. Acrylic on canvas. Gift of the artist, 2002. [2002.58]