Rockport, Massachusetts, may not be top of mind for most vacationers.
But this coastal town, on America's northeastern most point on Cape Ann,
is the inspiration behind the quintessential New England pictured in
romantic seaside paintings and postcards.
The cape’s granite ledges, fishing shacks, and crashing waves bathed in
golden light have attracted artists since the late 19th-century. Here, 46
miles northeast of Boston, they lived shoulder to shoulder with fishers,
quarry workers, and boat builders. Before long, their artworks established
an enduring vision of New England.
“Artists found a living, breathing fishing port filled with stories, character,
and purpose,” says Elizabeth Carey, executive director of the Rocky Neck
Art Colony in neighboring Gloucester. “Cape Ann wasn’t a manufactured
destination. It was real.”
Today, as nearby Cape Cod continues to draw summer crowds to its
modernizing coast, life in Cape Ann and Rockport continues to ebb and
flow with the port. Fishing boats ply the harbor, lobster folk head out
before sunrise, and painters take brush to canvas. Here’s how travelers can
become immersed in Rockport’s coastal charm.
Rockport’s influence in art history
Cape Ann’s artistic legacy stretches back to Gloucester-born Fitz Henry
Lane, whose harbor paintings helped establish the peninsula as an art hub
in the mid-19th century. Following the Civil War, artists
including Winslow Homer and William Morris Hunt, spent time in the
region, bringing students and fellow painters north.
Their work gave rise to the “Cape Ann School,” an influential early 20thcentury
movement that blended the loose brushwork and natural light of
American Impressionism with the plein air tradition. With its romantic
atmosphere and range of subjects within walking distance, Rockport
emerged as the American Impressionist movement’s most well-known
center. “Artists also talk about the unique quality of the light in Rockport,”
says Kristin Czarnecki, executive director of the Rockport Art Association
& Museum. “They say there’s nothing like it.”
William “Wilber” Ellery James remembers those early years. The 12-
generation resident and collector grew up with the painters, illustrators,
and sculptors. Painter Sam Hershey lived across the street. Meanwhile,
illustrator Harrison Cady—of Peter Rabbit fame—roamed the
neighborhood in a white suit, greeting local children as he passed. “They
were like plumbers or electricians or fishermen,” says James. “The artists
were a very integral part of the community.”
For James, their creations represent more than just paintings on walls;
they’re pages from a photo album, each a record of the life around him.
“It’s about a time and a place and the people,” he says.
Where art still happens
The Rockport Art Association & Museum preserves many of these works
inside a colonial-style building in the historic town center. Founded in
1921, the museum’s galleries showcase both historic and contemporary
artists, while workshops and educational programs keep the area’s
traditions alive.
No site captures the Cape Ann Movement more than Motif No. 1, the small
red fishing shack on Rockport Harbor. “The most-painted building in
America” is also one of the most humble—a characteristic that has
inspired painters to turn such everyday scenes into emblems of the New
England shore. The shack itself is a replica, rebuilt after the original was
lost in the Blizzard of 1978. Once a working shed storing fishing gear, it's
now a town-owned landmark, with tours departing from the wharf.
Nearby, Bearskin Neck is a small art colony where former fishing shacks
find new life as galleries and shops, while at Gallery Montanaro, owners
Todd and Ashley Montanaro specialize in Cape Ann School canvases from
the 1920s through the 1940s.
Just across the harbor lies Gloucester, Rockport’s big-city sibling,
and Rocky Neck, the oldest continuously operating art colony in the
country, drawing painters since the mid-19th-. “Many artist colonies were
retreats,” Carey says. “Rocky Neck was part of a working waterfront,” a
dynamic that Cary adds has contributed to the area’s vibrancy.
More than 20 charming galleries—some tucked into former fishing sheds
—dot the colony’s narrow streets, offering paintings, ceramics, handmade
jewelry, and photographs through the summer season. From May through
October, many studios open their doors to visitors and plein air painters
set up easels along the same waterfront that drew their predecessors a
century ago.
The Cultural Center, housed in a restored 1877 meetinghouse, offers a selfguided
Rocky Neck Historic Art Trail to sites featured in works by
Winslow Homer, Fitz Henry Lane, and Edward Hopper. The Cape Ann
Museum displays the country’s finest regional collections, including the
largest grouping of works by marine painter Fitz Henry Lane.
How to visit
Getting there and around
Rockport sits at the tip of Cape Ann, roughly 40 miles north of Boston via
Route 128. The MBTA Commuter Rail’s Rockport Line runs from Boston’s
North Station to downtown Rockport in about an hour, making an easy
car-free day trip. The village is compact and walkable, with the harbor,
Bearskin Neck, and the Rockport Art Association within a few minutes of
one another.
Where to eat and drink
Many locally owned restaurants and bars highlight the area’s history and
charm. Roy Moore Lobster Company has been a Rockport fixture since
1918 and serves lobster rolls and raw oysters on tables made from old
lobster traps, set on a waterfront deck. Feather & Wedge has a small patio
and waterfront views, plus a new American menu with dishes like roasted
prawns and a spaghetti bolognese made with Wagyu beef.