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Gloucester Harbor, Inner / Harbor Cove
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (18) »
The northeast quarter of Gloucester Harbor is an inlet bounded by Fort Point and Rocky Neck at its entrance. It is further indented by three coves: Harbor Cove and Vincent’s Cove on its north side, and Smith’s Cove on its south side. The shallow northeast end is called Head of the Harbor. Collectively, this inlet with its coves and shallows is called Inner Harbor.
The entrance to Inner Harbor is a wide channel bounded by Fort Point and Duncan’s Point on its north side, and by Rocky Neck on its south side. From colonial times to the late nineteenth century, it was popularly known as “the Stream” and served as anchorage for deeply loaded vessels for “lightering” (partial off-loading). Subsequently it was known as “Deep Hole.”
Of Inner Harbor’s three coves, Harbor Cove (sometimes called “Old Harbor” in later years) was the deepest and most heavily used by fishing vessels in the Colonial Period, and largely dominated by the foreign trade in the first half of the nineteenth century. Its shallow bottom was the undoing of the foreign trade, as larger vessels became too deep to approach its wharves, and the cove returned to servicing a growing fishing fleet in the 1850s.
Vincent’s Cove, a smaller neighbor to Harbor Cove, was bare ground at low tide, and mostly useless for wharfage. Its shoreline was well suited for shipbuilding, and the cove was deep enough at high tide for launching. Records of shipbuilding there prior to the early 1860s have to date not been found.Smith’s Cove afforded wharfage for fishing vessels at its east entrance, as seen in Lane’s lithograph View of the Town of Gloucester, Mass., 1836 (inv. 86). The rest of the cove saw little use until the expansion of the fisheries after 1865.
The Head of the Harbor begins at the shallows surrounding Five Pound Island, extending to the harbor’s northeast end. Lane’s depiction of this area in Gloucester Harbor, 1847 (inv. 23) shows the problems faced by vessel owners at low tide. Despite the absence of deep water, this area saw rapid development after 1865 when a thriving fishing industry needed waterfront facilities, even if they were accessible only at high tide.
– Erik Ronnberg
Related tables: Gloucester Harbor – Use » // Gloucester Harbor, Outer » // Graving Beach » // Waterfront, Gloucester »
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive (2013.068)
Schooner fleet anchored in the inner harbor. Looking east from Rocky Neck, Duncan's Point wharves and Lane house (at far left), Sawyer School cupola on Friend Street.
Also filed under: Duncan's Point » // Historic Photographs » // Schooner (Fishing) » // Waterfront, Gloucester »
Photograph
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Also filed under: Historic Photographs » // Schooner (Fishing) » // Waterfront, Gloucester »
44 x 34 in.
Henry Francis Walling, Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport, Essex Co. Massachusetts. Philadelphia, A. Kollner, 1851
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
"Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts. H.F. Walling, Civil Engineer. John Hanson, Printer. 1851. Population of Gloucester in 1850 7,805. Population of Rockport in 1850 3,213."
Also filed under: Baptist Church (Old, First, 1830) (Pleasant Street) » // Burnham Brothers Marine Railway » // Duncan's Point » // Five Pound Island » // Flake Yard » // Harbor Methodist Church (Prospect Street) » // Low (Frederick G.) wharves » // Pavilion Hotel » // Procter Brothers » // Ropewalk » // Vincent's Cove » // Western Shore »
4 x 6 in.
Cape Ann Museum, Benham Collection
George Steele sail loft, William Jones spar yard, visible across harbor. Photograph is taken from high point on the Fort, overlooking business buildings on the Harbor Cove side.
Also filed under: Fort (The) and Fort Point » // Town House » // Universalist Church (Middle and Church Streets) » // Waterfront, Gloucester »
Series Maps. v. 13: p. 17
SC1 / series 48X
Massachusetts Archives, Boston
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (1) »
Also filed under: Beacons / Monuments / Spindles » // Gloucester Harbor, Outer » // Gloucester, Mass. - "Ten Pound Island Light » // Gloucester, Mass. – Eastern Point Light » // Maps » // Mason, John » // Norman's Woe » // Pavilion (Publick) Beach » // Ropewalk »
Lithograph
24 x 38 in.
Gloucester City Archives
"Drawn on a scale of one hundred feet to an inch. By John Mason 1834–45 from Actual Survey showing every Lott and building then standing on them giving the actual size of the buildings and width of the streets from the Canal to the head of the Harbour & part of Eastern point as farr as Smith's Cove and the Shore of the same with all the wharfs then in use. Gloucester Harbor 1834–35."
This map shows the location of F. E. Low's wharf and the ropewalk. Duncan's Point, the site where Lane would eventually build his studio, is also marked.
The later notes on the map are believed to be by Mason.
Also filed under: Duncan's Point » // Low (Frederick G.) wharves » // Low, Capt. Frederick Gilman » // Maps » // Mason, John » // Residences » // Ropewalk » // Somes, Capt. John »
44 x 34 in.
Henry Francis Walling, Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport, Essex Co. Massachusetts. Philadelphia, A. Kollner, 1851
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
"Map of the Towns of Gloucester and Rockport, Massachusetts. H.F. Walling, Civil Engineer. John Hanson, Publisher. 1851. Population of Gloucester in 1850 7,805. Population of Rockport in 1850 3,213."
Segment of Harbor Village portion of map showing Collins' and other wharves in the Inner Harbor.
Also filed under: Graving Beach »
Collection of Erik Ronnberg
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (2) »
Also filed under: Dolliver's Neck » // Fresh Water Cove » // Gloucester Harbor, Outer » // Maps »
41 x 29 inches
Courtesy of the Massachusetts Archives
Maps and Plans, Third Series Maps, v.66:p.1, no. 2352, SC1/series 50X
.
Also filed under: Burnham Brothers Marine Railway » // Collins's, William (estate wharf) » // Maps » // Rogers's (George H.) wharves »
Photograph in The Illustrated Coast Pilot with Sailing Directions. The Coast of New England from New York to Eastport, Maine including Bays and Harbors, published by N. L. Stebbins, Boston
Also filed under: Beacons / Monuments / Spindles »
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Also filed under: Gloucester – City Views » // Historic Photographs »
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
From East Gloucester looking towards Gloucester.
Also filed under: Gloucester – City Views » // Historic Photographs »
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Stereo view showing Gloucester Harbor after a heavy snowfall
Also filed under: Historic Photographs » // Waterfront, Gloucester »
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Five Pound Island and Gloucester inner harbor taken from the top of Hammond Street building signs in foreground are for Severance, Carpenter and Crane, and Cooper at Clay Cove.
Also filed under: Five Pound Island »
1852
Oil on canvas
28 x 48 1/2 in.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Deposited by the City of Gloucester, 1952. Given to the city by Mrs. Julian James in memory of her grandfather Sidney Mason, 1913 (DEP. 200)
Detail of fishing schooner.
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (1) »
Also filed under: Schooner (Fishing) »
Oil on canvas
34 x 45 3/4 in.
Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Mass., Gift of Mrs. Jane Parker Stacy (Mrs. George O. Stacy),1948 (1289.1a)
Detail of party boat.
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (1) »
Also filed under: Party Boat »
Glass plate negative
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Detail from CAHA#00279
The magnificent views of Gloucester Harbor and the islands from the top floor of the stone house at Duncan's Point where Lane had his studio were the inspiration for many of his paintings.
From Buck and Dunlop, Fitz Henry Lane: Family, and Friends, pp. 59–74.
Also filed under: Duncan's Point » // Lane's Stone House, Duncan's Point » // Residences »
Glass plate negative
3 x 4 in.
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
#10112
Also filed under: Chebacco Boat / Dogbody / Pinky »
Photograph
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Ignatius Weber's windmill (now defunct) is shown.
Also filed under: Flake Yard » // Fort (The) and Fort Point » // Historic Photographs » // Rogers's (George H.) wharves » // Schooner (Fishing) » // Waterfront, Gloucester » // Windmill »
In John J. Babson, History of the Town Gloucester (Gloucester, MA: Procter Brothers, 1860)
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, Mass.
See p. 474.
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (2) »
Also filed under: Babson History of the Town of Gloucester » // Chebacco Boat / Dogbody / Pinky » // Fort (The) and Fort Point » // Gloucester, Mass. - "Ten Pound Island Light » // Schooner (Coasting / Lumber / Topsail / Packet / Marsh Hay) » // Ten Pound Island »