Welcome to Gloucester

Gloucester is a coastal city in Essex County about 30 miles northeast of Boston, set on Cape Ann with a deep harbor on Massachusetts Bay. It pairs a working fishing port and a historic downtown with beaches, waterfront villages, woodland trails, and one of the oldest working art colonies in the country.

About Gloucester

English fishermen sent by the Dorchester Company set up a fishing station here in 1623, and although that first settlement didn't last, the town was incorporated in 1642 and named for Gloucester, England. Fishing has driven the local economy ever since, and granite quarrying grew in the north villages in the 1800s. Rockport was set off from Gloucester in 1840, the railroad arrived in 1847, and Gloucester became a city in 1873.

Painters followed the fleet. Fitz Henry Lane was born here, Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper painted here, and Rocky Neck grew into an art colony. The Fisherman's Memorial on Stacy Boulevard, dedicated in 1925, honors the more than 10,000 fishermen said to have been lost at sea. Gloucester borders Rockport to the east and Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea to the west, with Ipswich Bay to the north and Massachusetts Bay to the south.

Getting Around

The MBTA Newburyport/Rockport Line stops at Gloucester and West Gloucester stations, with direct service to North Station in Boston. Cape Ann Transportation Authority buses connect downtown with the outlying villages and with Rockport, and meet trains at Gloucester station. Route 128 ends in Gloucester, Route 127 follows the shore through Magnolia and around Cape Ann, and Route 133 heads west toward Essex and Ipswich.

Gloucester Real Estate

Gloucester real estate spans nearly three centuries. A few First Period saltboxes survive, along with center-chimney, gambrel-roofed, and three-bay half houses from the 1700s. The Central Gloucester Historic District, listed on the National Register in 1982, covers about 36 acres downtown, where many Georgian and Federal houses on Middle Street predate 1840, and Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, and Colonial Revival homes fill nearby streets.

East Gloucester Square and Rocky Neck are also National Register districts, with Greek Revival and Italianate houses near the wharves and larger homes on Mount Pleasant Avenue. In the late 1800s Annisquam, Magnolia, Bass Rocks, and Eastern Point grew as summer resort areas, while Lanesville and Bay View grew around granite quarrying. Neighborhoods include Downtown, East Gloucester, Rocky Neck, Eastern Point, Bass Rocks, Annisquam, Bay View, Lanesville, Riverdale, Magnolia, and West Gloucester.

Living in Gloucester

Good Harbor Beach in East Gloucester and Wingaersheek Beach near the mouth of the Annisquam River are two of the city's sandy beaches, and Stage Fort Park, tied to the 1623 settlement, has small beaches and the city's visitor center. Ravenswood Park, a 600-acre Trustees property off Route 127, has about 10 miles of carriage paths and trails, and Dogtown, an abandoned colonial village in the interior of Cape Ann, is now woodland laced with trails and cellar holes.

Eastern Point Light, first lit in 1832, stands at the harbor entrance near the Dog Bar Breakwater. Nearby, Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House begun in 1907, is a National Historic Landmark run by Historic New England, and Hammond Castle, built from 1926 to 1929, overlooks the harbor in Magnolia. Downtown, the Cape Ann Museum, founded in 1875, holds the largest collection of Fitz Henry Lane's work.

Questions About Gloucester

What kinds of homes are in Gloucester?

Gloucester has First Period and Georgian houses, Federal homes on Middle Street, and Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne houses downtown and in East Gloucester. Summer houses in Annisquam, Magnolia, and Eastern Point, granite-era homes in Lanesville and Bay View, and houses near the harbor add variety.

How do you get to Boston from Gloucester?

Gloucester and West Gloucester stations on the MBTA Newburyport/Rockport Line have direct trains to North Station. By car, Route 128 starts in Gloucester and connects to I-95 and the rest of the region.

What is Rocky Neck?

Rocky Neck is a small peninsula in Gloucester Harbor on the East Gloucester side, home to one of the oldest working art colonies in the country and to Gloucester Marine Railways, a shipyard founded in 1859. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

To see homes for sale in Gloucester, browse the listings below. Thinking of buying or selling in Gloucester? Call (617) 848-9616 or get a free home valuation. Gloucester is part of our North of Boston guide.

Photos: Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA 2.0 and ThePlatypusofDoom, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.