Boothbay Harbor

It’s large and protected harbor was once a spot purely for Friendship Sloops and commercial fishermen, but these days the summer months turn Boothbay Harbor into a haven for tourists. Above is the distinctive Footbridge which traverses one shore of the harbor to the other, and is the perfect site for a lazy sunset stroll.

Many also call to mind the 1956 film “Carousel”, which includes some scenes that were filmed here, notably the “June is Bustin’ Out All Over” sequence. I always found it amusing that the film shows a spectacular setting sun, dropping dramatically into the ocean. We New Englanders know the sun sets over land and rises over the ocean.

June may be past us, but there’s still plenty of summer left if you’ve a mind to head up to beautiful Boothbay Harbor for a sunset stroll. Never mind where the sun sets. It sets over your shoulder.

Gloucester - Fisherman's Memorial

It is often regarded as the most dangerous occupation in America. Commercial fisherman have fed us since the earliest days of settlement on this continent, which for Gloucester, Massachusetts, site of this famous statue, The Fisherman’s Memorial, began in 1623. Explorer Samuel de Champlain’s visit in 1606 makes it, as it is lauded today, America’s oldest seaport.

Thousands upon thousands of fishermen from just this one port of Gloucester have lost their lives in the course of their daily work from that time until this. Each year in Gloucester, the roll of those lost at sea is read. Sculptor Leonard Craske has given us a simple yet dramatic figure of the man at the wheel, peering under his sou’wester, looking out to see, hopeful and wary at the same time. The statute makes an appearance in the film “A Perfect Storm” (2000), and a replica of it appears in “Captain’s Courageous” (1937).

For more on the history of Gloucester, Massachusetts, have a look at this website.

Been there? Done that? Eaten Gorton’s frozen fish? Recognize the logo? Let us know.

Hammersmith Farm

Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island, the childhood home of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, remains an impressive example of 19th century expression of wealth and social standing, when the lions of industry and society created havens for themselves, a place to get away from it all.

More subdued in style than the goliaths of architecture you’ll find on the Newport Mansions tour, the shingle-style 28-room cottage has the distinction of becoming an icon not of the Gilded Age but of the 1960s. The wedding reception of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy was held here in 1953. Afterwards, during his presidency, the Victorian mansion was dubbed “the summer White House” by the press as President and Mrs. Kennedy were frequent summertime visitors.

With gardens originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the lawns and meadows stretch to the bay. The dock there had once berthed the Presidential yacht “Honey Fitz.” However, Robert Redford also took advantage of it in the film “The Great Gatsby” (1974). Contrasting with this period of elegant notariety, the 50-acre property was still the last working farm in the city of Newport.

John W. Auchincloss, the great-grandfather of Jacqueline Kennedy's stepfather, Hugh D. Auchincloss, built the house in 1887. At the time this photo was taken, the mansion was open to the public for tours. Having been sold along with many of its original furnishings, the property is now privately owned, and it is now closed to the public.

The image of a young married couple being photographed in their wedding clothes against an expansive lawn bordered by a rustic rail fence is what most people who have not seen the property in person can recall. The former debutante and the former Senator made history, which was still part of the hazy future when their wedding photo was taken. Located on Ocean Drive in Newport, the mansion can still be seen from the road, and it has achieved the privacy which eluded it for so long.

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Jacqueline T. Lynch is the author of The Ames Manufacturing Company of Chicopee, Massachusetts - A Northern Factory Town's Perspective on the Civil War;   

Comedy and Tragedy on the Mountain: 70 Years of Summer Theatre on Mt. Tom,  Holyoke, Massachusetts;

 States of Mind: New England; as well as books on classic films and several novels.  Her Double V Mysteries series is set in New England in the early 1950s.  TO JOIN HER READERS' GROUP - follow this link for a free book as a thank-you for joining.

Seamen's Bethel - New Bedford

The Seamen's Bethel is a chapel built in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1832 for the sailors, most of them whalers, who called New Bedford their home port. There are many memorials on the walls for those who perished at sea.

In 1851, Herman Melville published “Moby-Dick” and became inextricably linked with the Seamen’s Bethel of New Bedford. Melville wrote:

"In this same New Bedford there stands a Whaleman's Chapel, and few are the moody fishermen, shortly bound for the Indian Ocean or Pacific, who fail to make a Sunday visit to the spot." The minister of this chapel calls his congregation “shipmates” and recounts for them the story of Jonah and the whale. Here Ishmael sat through the sermon, along with Queequeg, and moodily ruminated on their own fates.

In 1956, Director John Huston shot a scene from the movie adaptation of “Moby-Dick” with Gregory Peck, in front of the real Seamen's Bethel, but interior shots in the movie were not filmed here. This film brought tourists to the area, and also left the Seamen’s Bethel with a new pulpit. The bow-shaped pulpit, which Melville described in his book was entirely made up, and never part of the original chapel. As Melville described it: “Its panelled (sic) front was in the likeness of a ship's bluff bows, and the Holy Bible rested on a projecting piece of scroll work, fashioned after a ship's fiddle-headed beak.”

The film version of “Moby-Dick” brought new visitors here, who were then disappointed to find there was no such pulpit. The bow-shaped pulpit you see here now was built in 1961 as a nod to Melville’s famous novel, and to appease the movie fans.

In 1996 the Seamen's Bethel became part of the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It is still a house of prayer, and a memorial to the seamen of New Bedford. Non-demoninational weddings, baptisms and Vesper Services occur here, and you can also visit Melville’s pew, where he sat in 1840.

Herman Melville, born in 1819 in New York City, had written novels, short stories and poems, but what little attention he received dwindled quickly and by the time of his death in 1891, he was almost forgotten. His book “Moby-Dick” was considered a financial flop, and was not revered as a classic until the 20th century.

Mr. Melville worked as a young man as a surveyor on the Erie Canal, afterward his brother got him a job as a cabin boy on a New York ship bound for Liverpool. He later wrote of this journey. Melville then taught school, but in 1840 again decided to sign ship's articles. On New Year's Day, 1841, he sailed from Fairhaven, Massachusetts on the whaler “Acushnet,” which sailed around Cape Horn to the South Pacific. An 18-month voyage, it probably inspired “Moby-Dick”.

Want to go? Visit this New Bedford visitor’s site .

Been there? Done that? Bought the T-shirt? Let us know.