De Hirsh Margules, Mother Ann Lighthouse, Eastern Point, Gloucester, 1946. Gouache on paper. Gift of Jean M. Horblit, 2002. [Acc. #2002.004.002]
Manchester Cricket: Explore Cape Ann’s History and Art on Foot with Museum-Led Walking Tours
With warmer weather, CAM offers six different tours through the fall
By Erika Brown, May 3, 2025
One of the most successful cultural experiences in Gloucester is the walking tour. Why? Because Cape Ann, and Gloucester in particular, offers so much history per square foot. And the Cape Ann Museum does it well, offering walking tours with docents who really know their particular topics and, suddenly, a weekend walk beccomes a burst of appreciation for where we live and the transformative people who’s lived here before us.
This week, the museum announced its summer walking tour line up. And with the museum’s downtown campus closed for renovations until spring 2026, the walking tours provide a way for visitors and residents to experience Cape Ann’s rich artistic and cultural past outside traditional gallery walls. Led by trained docents, the tours explore areas that inspired artists such as Edward and Josephine Hopper, Fitz Henry Lane, and Marsden Hartley, as well as the local fi gures who helped shape Gloucester’s maritime and revolutionary legacy.
One new tour, “Patriots and Privateers of Revolutionary Middle Street,” was developed in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Other tours revisit historic neighborhoods, highlight shifting waterfront industries, or focus on the architectural evolution of the city from the mid-18th century through the 20th.
Tours typically run 90 minutes and are held Friday and Saturday mornings, with the exception of the “Historic Dogtown” tour, which is longer and held on select Sundays. Most begin at the sculpture courtyard outside the Cape Ann Museum’s downtown location at 27 Pleasant St. Tour prices are $10 for members and $20 for non-members. Registration and full schedules are available at capeannmuseum.org.
Below are the details about each of the museum’s six tours:
Hopper’s Houses Downtown
Explore the area surrounding the Cape Ann Museum’s Downtown Campus on this walk past select Gloucester houses made famous by American realist painter Edward Hopper (1882–1967). Hopper is known to have painted in Gloucester on fi ve separate occasions in the fi rst decades of the 20th century. His paintings from this period capture the local landscape and architecture in a loosely rendered, light–fi lled style and are considered by many to be some of his fi nest works. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours in a loop around downtown Gloucester.
Waterfront Reflections
This walking tour looks at changes in Gloucester’s Harbor Village as it advanced from the home of a few to the workplace of many during the late 18th to early 20th centuries. A mix of structures past and present, heroes, art, and waterfront activity all inform the picture of the diverse and vibrant community that emerged along the shore of ‘Le Beauport’, the beautiful port.
Bones of Homes
This walking tour provides participants with an architectural overview of Gloucester building styles from the mid-18th to the mid-20th centuries. On this tour of the area surrounding the Cape Ann Museum’s Downtown Campus, participants will learn about architectural elements and styles that arose out of specifi c socioeconomic and cultural circumstances during this critical 200-year period in the City’s development. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours around downtown Gloucester.
Ed and Jo Hoppers’ Houses
Views from Portuguese Hill Explore the specifi c sites in the area of Gloucester known as Portuguese Hill depicted by renowned American realist painter Edward Hopper (1882–1967). Hopper is known to have painted in Gloucester on fi ve separate occasions in the fi rst decades of the 20th century. His paintings from this period capture the local landscape and architecture in a loosely rendered, light-fi lled style and are considered by many to be some of his fi nest works. Also included are watercolors painted by Josephine Nivison Hopper (1883–1968), Hopper’s wife and a prolifi c artist, whose work gained recognition long before her future husband’s success. Participants will learn how this hillside neighborhood that the Hoppers traveled together inspired their artwork, as well as the role the area plays in Gloucester history. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours towards Portuguese Hill and back to downtown Gloucester. This walking tour includes steep stairs and hilly terrain.
Historic Dogtown
A Walk Back in Time On Cape Ann, the name “Dogtown” conjures up many things — vast woodlands and trails; stone walls and cellar holes; tales of witches and widows; an ill-fated bullfighter; pastures, picnics and wild blueberries; a sea of rocks. Dogtown is all of these things and more. But first, it is a place where proud people once lived and worked at the center of Gloucester, for nearly 150 years – until it became “Dogtown” and died out. This tour goes down the main roads of this early settlement, to meet some of the people, see where they lived, and hear their stories. Participants will learn how Dogtown got its name, why people left, and how it has changed in the 200 years since the last house came down. During this walk, hear about writers and artists who were inspired by this place, and reservoirs that were built there. Finally, visitors will see some of the inspirational word-boulders along the trails that are the lasting legacy of entrepreneur and philanthropist Roger Babson (1875–1967), a symbol of the enduring nature of this special place. This walking tour is three miles and will take approximately two hours. The route is over hiking trails that are generally easy, but uneven, with rocks and roots underfoot.
Patriots and Privateers of Revolutionary Middle Street
As a seaport town jutting into the Atlantic, Gloucester was of strategic importance during the American Revolution and always under threat of attack. The people of the town stood ready to take action against the British, and many of them did. In this walking tour down Middle Street — one of Gloucester’s oldest streets – the tour will step back in time to meet people who were witness to Revolution right from this spot; see where they lived and gathered, in houses still standing today; and hear the stories of the roles they played in defending liberty, as patriots, privateers, preachers and more. This tour was developed in conjunction with the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours to walk Middle Street in downtown Gloucester.
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