An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
inv. 31
Coffin's Beach at Sunset
Coffin's Beach
c. 1862 Oil on canvas 22 1/2 x 36 3/4 in. (57.2 x 93.3 cm) Signed lower right: F. H. Lane
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Historical Materials
Below is historical information related to the Lane work above. To see complete information on a subject on the Historical Materials page, click on the subject name (in bold and underlined).

"Coffin's Beach extends from the Essex River on the west to the Annisquam River on the east. The rocks called Two Penny Loaf, where Lane positioned himself in View of Coffin's Beach, 1862 (inv. 41), lie at the Essex end of the beach. Coffin's Beach was named for the landowners who established a farm there in the seventeenth century. In 1775 Peter Coffin (c.1724–96), an ardent patriot, and a handful of friends held off Captain John Linzee (or Lindsay), a loyalist, and his crew from the "Falcon" when they attempted to land and make off with sheep from the farm. However, the farm was abandoned in Lane's time, and it was probably the presence of John Charles Fremont (1813–90) encamped on Coffin's Beach in August 1862 that drew the artist to the site." (1)
Reference:
1. Karen Quinn with Sandra Kelberlau and Jean Woodward, "Rediscovering Fitz Henry Lane's 'View of Coffin's Beach' on Cape Ann," The Magazine Antiques (2006): 68.

Also known as "Two Penny Loaf," this is a rocky outcropping at the northern end of Coffin's Beach on Ipswich Bay in Gloucester, Massachusetts, from which Lane drew and painted Coffin's Beach. The Loaf was also the site of his creation of a drawing and a painting (now lost) of General Fremont's encampment.

Colonel David W. Low (1833–1919) was the son of Captain Frederick Gilman Low and father of Frederic Friend Low. As an adult, Colonel Low lived in West Gloucester, Massachusetts, not far from Coffin's Beach. He was a veteran of the Civil War and a civic leader. Among his children was Frederic Friend Low, who bequeathed Coffin's Beach at Sunset, c.1862 (inv. 31) to the Cape Ann Museum after allowing his niece Martha F. Low to enjoy it in her home during her lifetime.
Commentary
Coffin’s Beach is located at the westernmost end of Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester’s West Parish, and it takes its name from Peter Coffin. In 1688, Coffin and his family acquired and settled a tract of land approximately five hundred acres in size that ran between the Annisquam and Chebacco Rivers. The tip of the land at the mouth of the Chebacco River has long been known as Two Penny Loaf. In 1747, the property descended to Coffin’s grandson, also named Peter. Around the time of the American Revolution, the younger Coffin moved to Gloucester’s Harbor Village, where he became a “prominent and useful citizen.” (1)
During Fitz Henry Lane’s lifetime, Coffin’s and Wingaersheek Beaches and their uplands were still largely undeveloped. In the decades following the Civil War, pressure intensified in the area as ambitious plans for residential developments were put forth.
This painting is presumed to have been owned at one time by David W. Low (1833–1919), the father of Frederic F. Low (1872–1957), who bequeathed the work to the Cape Ann Museum. David Low and Amanda F. Friend were married in 1862. By the mid-1870s, they lived at Fernwood in West Gloucester, not far from Wingaersheek and Coffin’s Beaches.
– Martha Oaks
Reference:
1. John James Babson, History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith, 1972), 69.
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