Tour Diary 41 – Rockport – bears and fishermen – Where have all the fish gone? – Bollywood charades and the land of all things Witchy-poo…
Time to get back on the road. We have been still for too long. So it is off to touring Massachusetts for us. We dropped off Mary at her friend’s house in the lovely named Magnolia and this was an indication of the beauty of the area we would be passing through and again the delight for me is because of such splendid architecture. I don’t know why houses and buildings inspire me so, strange behaviour for a girlie I know, but I just love them. I think when we finally get home and look through all our movies Steve is going to really tell me off for..
a) All the footage there is of my little knees and painted toes as I forget to switch the camera off and lay it down in my lap or …
b) Houses, houses, houses and more … houses…
Oh and also… flowers and shrubs and trees.. and pelicans when I can catch them in the viewfinder.
I know he will love doing a lot of editing…
We headed on past Magnolia to a place Mary recommended called Rockport and on the way to it; we took a little detour around a tiny peninsula called Rocky Neck Colony. This has now become a haven for artists and it really reminded me of St Ives in Cornwall without the horrendous touristy industry that blights that beautiful place now.
Rocky Neck overlooks Gloucester Harbour and one of my favourite American artists - Edward Hopper used to love to come and paint here.
The Gloucester peninsula was just delightful and in fact did not take long to get right the way round it. We ended up finding a place to stay at Bearskin Neck, (such strange names… unless they are English names which are of course are completely normal).
A bear was once killed here by a fisherman and that’s how this picturesque little place got it’s name. The fishing industry out of Gloucester harbour was once the biggest in the world. It was from here that George Clooney and Marky Mark Walberg set off in the film ‘The Perfect Storm’. The Boat and the lost fishermen are remembered in plaques in the town. The host in our B & B (which made a lovely change from nameless and faceless Hotels…) came from generations of fishermen. Steve often scoffs at my questions as if I am daft, but I asked our host if he was from New York as his accent was pure lower east side.. (Little Italy).. but he replied that he was born and raised in Gloucester. So I thought I was mistaken but then he went on to say that Sicily was his ancestral background and so then the accent made sense.
He told us many things about the demise of the fishing industry now and from these snippets I could tell that he had been an ardent, caring environmentalist as a child. His thoughts and worries about what the boats were doing then were ignored though.
He tried to explain the scale of the sheer numbers of fish bought in to Gloucester and on one day alone, the boats bought in over 1,000,000 lbs of fish. One day… and that was back in 1948. No amount of ocean can sustain that greedy plundering. Is it any wonder that our fish are gone, especially if you add the fishing practices, which are allowed now of the mile long nets ‘The Walls of Death’ as environmentalists so aptly call them. Nothing can escape them. They capture big fish, small fish and everything in between …relentlessly … then dolphins… whales.. turtles and such like.. supposedly protected species… are just left to drown.
He used to say to his Dad back then that it was obscene and couldn’t be sustained but his Dads response was if we don’t do it everyone else will continue to regardless, so we might as well keep on.
One time there were flocks of seagulls, which formed a complete sheet of white and grey over the ocean for as far as the eyes could see. He said he found it so strange as they were not moving just sitting bloated over the shoals of captured fish. The catch had been so huge that the seagulls just ate and ate until they were too full to fly…. And were just having to wait until they were able to take off again. It all made me very sad as fishing and fishing practices is one of the things I feel very passionately about, let alone how passionately I feel about the Cetaceans.
Anyway back to Bearskin Neck.. what a lovely little enclave. It was tiny but sooooo full of character and uniqueness. Brilliant , quaint little unusual shops. We found a Mexican shop, which had lots of Frieda art works in the designs and I bought a beautiful bright orange top with a matching huge sun necklace. I now have to find somewhere special to go out to wear it!! Jewellery making is a specialty of the area so lots of glittering things for me to immerse myself in and there were also great eateries…
It proves to me again.. that you MUST have recommendations from people who know the area. I would have looked at the map and probably taken us all around the peninsula but wouldn’t have known to sidestep into the little bays or peninsulas to find these gems.
It’s so odd when reading the map to see all the English names.. Gloucester.. Essex… North Reading.. Manchester.. Middlesex.. Boston… Malden… Wakefield… Bedford… even West Acton!!
I personally think it shows a total lack of imagination. They should have come up with completely new names or stuck to the names all these places had already. The Native Americans had names for all their lands long before old pale face showed up. Perfectly good names even though we cannot pronounce them!.
I think the Invaders carried the names over to give them some sense of comfort in what must have felt like very hostile territory…
We decided to do our Whale Watching tour from here, but it was not too successful. Firstly the weather had really changed and it was blustery and made the journey uncomfortable for Steve who gets seasick and then not many whales were sighted. It was however the first time I had seen Minke whales and I was surprised at how big they are. The Japanese are still killing off these endangered wonderful creatures. Will they never stop?
The front of the boat was completely occupied by a huge family of Asians or maybe Sri Lankans. They were so boisterous and full of fun and laughter. (Until the sea-sickness hit everyone later)
They decided to have a game of Charades which I loved, as I thought I recognized a few of the Bollywood films they were enacting. Steve thought it ridiculous as they are all the same but I’m sure I picked a few correctly. The captain kept telling them to stop jumping, as it was dangerous. I don’t think they were actually jumping but as you lifted up a foot the boat dropped away from you rapidly and made it look like you were deliberately jumping up in the air. As I always want to be up the front of the boat I was disappointed to see that one of the party had taken my seat at the front of the boat!! Curses…. So I had to bide my time and as the numbers dropped away to the back of the boat to find relief from the pounding waves I gradually moved on up the rail to stand beside him at last. So when we did see the whales I had a 180 degree view. Steve and I realized that when we saw the Whales at Cape Cod a few years back, how lucky we had been at that time. Our boat then was completely surrounded by Hump Backs feeding and sending up their circles of bubbles which enable them to come on up through the bubbles with their mouths wide open and then breach backwards. Such an amazing spectacle. The bubbles turn the water into a turquoise circle so this gives a great clue as to where they will appear next. Coupled with this was the fact that a Mother Whale and her calf had taken a liking to the boat and continually circled it round and round and to be able to look directly into the eyes of these magnificent mammals is one of the greatest experiences to have on anyone’s Bucket List.
I think the fact that the Captains of these boats can find any Whales at all is so commendable as the ocean is so big once you lose sight of the land. We chose a boat with a Conservationist theme and it again was so lovely to see these young and so passionate Marine Biologists talking about their love and determination to try to save these endangered species. I left the boat, soaked but very uplifted as always when I have come into contact with the young, who are determined to make and save a better world for us all…. Stevie was a bit green to say the least but managed to hold onto his brunch.. how I’m not sure… it was a matter of sheer will power. I moved him around the boat to what was supposed to be the easiest side, on the way back and I sheltered his body with mine to keep the spray off him but in the end moved him to the other side of the boat because we were getting too wet and cold. Then as soon as I sat him down, one of the Bollywood Charade performers promptly came out and was sick in front of him. I quickly moved him back again.. it was like musical chairs but after a while when we were both becoming dangerously cold and wet albeit beautifully windswept.. we moved inside and he could then fall asleep until we docked. I’d hate to suffer from car-sickness or sea-sickness. I am typing this in the car on our trip down to Cape Cod to see the 4th of July Fireworks over Hyannis bay and just the thought of what I am doing is enough to make Steve feel car sick.
I think it must have been all those previous lives I had as a sailor… I carried over my sea legs.. Yes… that must be why they are so little and sturdy….
There was a Horribles Parade…(It’s actual name) in Cape Ann when we docked and we had intended to watch it, having no idea at all what Horribles were but it was absolutely pouring with rain. Fireworks were supposed to also take place later that night and we were going to watch those too. What a great shame for all the people involved in putting it all on as I’m sure most people would have headed back home and not stayed. In a way the fact that Steve felt rough made it no choice but I would have been sad to have missed it if the weather had been fine.
Salem.. Massachusetts…
The other strange thing with the names of places it not just that so many are English city names but that the same name is used over and over again. I overheard someone say there are dozens of Salems in USA but I don’t know if that was correct. There are definitely a couple in Mass.
I was really looking forward to our visit here. I don’t know what I expected ..a really Ghostly-dark-hidden-secrets type of place I suppose with obvious Witchy poo type people on every corner. Steve was concerned that I would be spotted for the White Witchy poo that I am and taken in for questioning.. but exotic as I look sometimes I did not stand out in this place.
It was so lovely and for once we made a good call and got on the Trolley Tour to start. I had earmarked all the places of interest but it was obvious once we did the Tour that we wouldn’t have seen a fraction of it on foot, which is our favourite way to see a city. It is very pretty and charming and although so much is Witchy themed, (even the police car has a witch on the side of their cars).. it all seemed very good humoured.
The day to avoid is Halloweens night when all the Bonkers people descend..
The one thing that really struck me was how over and over again the tour guides made it very clear that the 20 or so people who were killed in the mad hysteria which took place in Salem over a 10 month period… were all absolutely innocent. They were convicted by spectral evidence, which meant it could be through dreams, visions or imagination. The girls could just say absolutely anything they wanted and act it out and it was accepted. After these events the spectral law was discontinued.
We found the cemetery and the grave of the last man to be killed.. Cory an old man of over 80 years of age, who was pressed/crushed to death.
Abigail who started the whole thing off was only 11 years old.
In the film The Crucible – Arthur Millers take on the story, with Daniel Day Lewis and Wynona Rider the story has been changed to imply that Abigail was spurned by John Proctor and that triggered off the whole sad episode.
What amazed me was that in such a small enclave.. only about 500 people lived in the area at that time.. such a small group of people.. young girls at that, could cause so many to take on board what they were saying and act on it in such a horrible way.
What amazed me even more.. but then really should it have?.. was that it wasn’t until the Magistrate, who had been called in to try to sort out what was happening, had his own wife accused by the girls as a witch also ..did the madness finally stop. He then said enough is enough and released the remaining prisoners and let them go and made it unlawful for spectral evidence to be used again. I wondered how long it might have gone on for if his wife hadn’t been accused?.
Every other shop seemed to be offering the services of Psychic readers and all kinds of Witchy poo paraphernalia. Big business.
Another very interesting and surprising fact was when we passed the Custom House in the middle of the town. The narrator said we should be surprised to find the Customs house there as they are usually on the quayside. I had already thought it strange. He went on to say that all the land in front of the Customs house, now a very busy thoroughfare, had been reclaimed from the sea. At one time the harbour wall was now where the main road was with a remnant of the wall still visible. Amazing as such a lot of land now was reclaimed from the sea between the houses and the shore off in the far distance.
When the Puritans had other religious factions come and try to settle in with them and they couldn’t get along, the Puritans put these on rafts, called them Marbleheads and pointed them towards an island opposite the Salem mainland. This is now a thriving community and I would like to believe they are generations of people who thought for themselves and challenged the status quo. I would have been one of those people stuck on the raft! I got the impression though that the Salem people look down on these Marblehead Islanders.
We shall be moving onto Cape Cod next…
Lots of love
Annie
PS I think I missed out the number 39 in my entries so if you are looking for it thinking you have not read an entry.. Don’t as I jumped from 38 to 40. Not sure why!!
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