An online project under the direction of the CAPE ANN MUSEUM
Historical Materials: Cape Ann Locales
Historical Materials » Cape Ann Locales » Stage Rocks / Stage Fort / Stage Head
You have navigated to this pages from catalog entry: View of Gloucester from "Brookbank," the Sawyer Homestead, c.1856 (inv. 95)
Stage Rocks / Stage Fort / Stage Head
View related Fitz Henry Lane catalog entries (13) »
The Stage, as it was known in Lane’s time, now Stage Fort Park, rises from the western shore of the Outer Harbor, just south and west of the Cut and the Blynman Bridge as you leave Gloucester. This was the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1623 where fourteen men of the Dorchester Company landed and tried in vain to settle and survive through a combination of fishing and farming. They were successful at neither, and in 1626 they moved on and founded Salem.
During the Revolution the Gloucester patriots built a fort on the north side of Half Moon Beach to defend against British invaders which was never needed. The fort was restored for the War of 1812 and again for the Civil War, but again saw no action.
During Lane’s lifetime this area was the Hough farm. Townspeople were generally given free run of the place for strolling and picnics overlooking the harbor. The enormous rounded boulders and ledge outcroppings rose dramatically from the fields above the harbor without the tree cover that partially obscures them today.
Lane did numerous paintings of this area, including many views looking westward from the vantage point onboard a boat in the harbor. In Stage Rocks and the Western Shore of Gloucester Outer Harbor, 1857 (inv. 8) the Stage Rocks frame the west side of Gloucester Harbor and provided a peaceful and bucolic counterpoint to the intense activity of the city waterfront only a mile away across the harbor. Lane also painted the Stage Rocks from the beach just to the north near the Cut and Field Beach, which is on the southern side of the Stage Rocks facing out the harbor entrance to the sea.
Related tables: Half Moon Beach » // Hough, Benjamin Kent »
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds
1543 plan 0141_0002
The third of the three plans has the references on it. "Plan showing the taking of land, flats and beach for Stage Fort Park…1898..."
Includes a reference to the home of Mary Turnbull which is Steepbank.
Also filed under: Maps » // Steepbank »
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Also filed under: Gloucester – City Views » // Half Moon Beach » // Historic Photographs » // Steepbank »
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."
Also filed under: Annisquam River » // Brookbank » // Dolliver's Neck » // Fresh Water Cove » // Gloucester Harbor, Outer » // Maps » // Norman's Woe » // Steepbank » // West Gloucester – Little River » // Western Shore »
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Also filed under: Half Moon Beach » // Historic Photographs » // Western Shore »
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Also filed under: Gloucester – City Views » // Historic Photographs »
Stereograph card
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
"In the foreground is a clear sheet of water which washes upon the beach beyond. The Pavilion is quite prominent, while upon the rising background can be seen the steeples of the several churchs, the tower of the first Town House, and the Collins School House."
Also filed under: Gloucester – City Views » // Historic Photographs » // Pavilion Hotel »
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Stage Fort from Hough's Farm, showing a panorama of the harbor from Pavilion Beach to Fort Point and Rocky Neck.
Also filed under: Field Beach / Crescent (or Cressy's) Beach / Long Beach »
Stereograph card
Procter Brothers, Publisher
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive
Also filed under: Gloucester Harbor, Outer » // Historic Photographs »
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds. 1543 plan 0141_0003
salemdeeds.com
The third of the three plans has the references on it “Plan showing the taking of land, flats and beach for Stage Fort Park…1898…"
Includes a reference to the home of “Mary Turnbull” which is Steepbank.
Also filed under: Maps »
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Southern Essex District Registry of Deeds
1543 plan 0141_0001
The third of the three plans has the references on it “Plan showing the taking of land, flats and beach for Stage Fort Park…1898…”
Includes a reference to the home of Mary Turnbull which is Steepbank.
Also filed under: Field Beach / Crescent (or Cressy's) Beach / Long Beach » // Maps » // Steepbank »
Colored lithograph
Cape Ann Museum Library and Archive
Also filed under: Western Shore »
29 x 25 in.
Cape Ann Museum Library & Archive (#089)
Ernest Bowditch was a landscape gardener. This map shows some of the various names of landmarks around Stage Rocks.
Also filed under: Field Beach / Crescent (or Cressy's) Beach / Long Beach » // Half Moon Beach » // Maps »