h warmer weather, CAM offers six different tours through Fall 2025
Cape Ann Museum Docent Trina Smith takes visitors along Prospect Street in Gloucester to see how painter Edward Hopper depicted a streetscape in the mid 1920’s that is still present a century on. Two walking tours feature the work and painting lifestyle of Edward Hopper and his wife, Jo, as they sought painting subjects around the city.
GLOUCESTER, Mass. (April 2025) – With many artists drawing inspiration from Gloucester’s homes, churches, architecture, seascapes, and picturesque landscapes, the Cape Ann Museum (CAM) is offering six different walking tours throughout the city this year. On the tours, visitors can learn how those views and vistas were captured by Edward and Josephine Hopper, Fitz Henry Lane, Marsden Hartley, and others over time. A new walking tour called Patriots and Privateers of Revolutionary Middle Street explores the role of residents in one significant neighborhood as the country celebrates the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution this year.
“The sense of place on Cape Ann has always been resonant in the works of art created here, and our walking tours capture that essence up close and personally,” said Museum Director Oliver Barker. “Our tours are designed to take visitors to those homes, churches, and woodland trails to see and feel what artists experienced and how they then captured this uniquely inspiring area. It is, for example, thrilling to learn how Edward and Josephine Hopper painted scenes and homes downtown, and how the inspiration of Gloucester became such an important milestone for their careers.”
Museum docents, well-versed in the city’s history, lead the tours even as the Museum’s Downtown Campus remains closed for renovations until Spring 2026. Visitors can register for the tours online and meet in the sculpture courtyard in front of the Downtown Museum at 27 Pleasant Street in Gloucester. The “Historic Dogtown” tour is offered on some Sundays, and visitors meet at Babson Boulder Parking on Cherry Street in Gloucester. Many of the tours are about one and a half hours long, often offered on Friday and Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon; other than the two-hour “Historic Dogtown” tours which are Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. The cost is $10 for members; $20 for non-members.
Here are details about the six different tours now offered through Fall 2025:
Explore the area surrounding the Cape Ann Museum’s Downtown Campus on this walk past select Gloucester houses made famous by American realist painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967). Hopper is known to have painted in Gloucester on five separate occasions in the first decades of the 20th century. His paintings from this period capture the local landscape and architecture in a loosely rendered, light–filled style and are considered by many to be some of his finest works. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours in a loop around downtown Gloucester.
This walking tour looks at changes in Gloucester’s Harbor Village as it advanced from the home of a few to the workplace of many during the late 18th to early 20th centuries. A mix of structures past and present, heroes, art, and waterfront activity all inform the picture of the diverse and vibrant community that emerged along the shore of ‘Le Beauport’, the beautiful port.
This walking tour provides participants with an architectural overview of Gloucester building styles from the mid-18th to the mid-20th centuries. On this tour of the area surrounding the Cape Ann Museum’s Downtown Campus, participants will learn about architectural elements and styles that arose out of specific socioeconomic and cultural circumstances during this critical 200-year period in the City’s development. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours around downtown Gloucester.
Ed and Jo Hoppers’ Houses: Views from Portuguese Hill
Explore the specific sites in the area of Gloucester known as Portuguese Hill depicted by renowned American realist painter Edward Hopper (1882-1967). Hopper is known to have painted in Gloucester on five separate occasions in the first decades of the 20th century. His paintings from this period capture the local landscape and architecture in a loosely rendered, light-filled style and are considered by many to be some of his finest works. Also included are watercolors painted by Josephine Nivison Hopper (1883-1968), Hopper’s wife and a prolific artist, whose work gained recognition long before her future husband’s success. Participants will learn how this hillside neighborhood that the Hoppers travelled together inspired their artwork, as well as the role the area plays in Gloucester history. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours towards Portuguese Hill and back to downtown Gloucester. This walking tour includes steep stairs and hilly terrain.
Historic Dogtown: A Walk Back in Time
Marsden Hartley’s rendition of Dogtown. Photo Credit: Marsden Hartley (1877-1943). Summer Outward Bound, Gloucester, 1931, oil on board. Collection of Cape Ann Museum. Gift of the estate of Robert L. French, 2009 [Accession # 2009.51.9]
On Cape Ann, the name “Dogtown” conjures up many things — vast woodlands and trails; stone walls and cellar holes; tales of witches and widows; an ill-fated bullfighter; pastures, picnics and wild blueberries; a sea of rocks. Dogtown is all of these things and more. But first, it is a place where proud people once lived and worked at the center of Gloucester, for nearly 150 years – until it became “Dogtown” and died out.
This tour goes down the main roads of this early settlement, to meet some of the people, see where they lived, and hear their stories. Participants will learn how Dogtown got its name, why people left, and how it has changed in the 200 years since the last house came down. During this walk,l hear about writers and artists who were inspired by this place, and reservoirs that were built there. Finally, visitors will see some of the inspirational word-boulders along the trails that are the lasting legacy of entrepreneur and philanthropist Roger Babson (1875-1967), a symbol of the enduring nature of this special place.
This walking tour is three miles and will take approximately two hours. The route is over hiking trails that are generally easy, but uneven, with rocks and roots underfoot.
(NEW) Patriots and Privateers of Revolutionary Middle Street
As a seaport town jutting into the Atlantic, Gloucester was of strategic importance during the American Revolution and always under threat of attack. The people of the town stood ready to take action against the British, and many of them did. In this walking tour down Middle Street — one of Gloucester’s oldest streets – the tour will step back in time to meet people who were witness to Revolution right from this spot; see where they lived and gathered, in houses still standing today; and hear the stories of the roles they played in defending liberty, as patriots, privateers, preachers and more. This tour was developed in conjunction with the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution. Stroll with a CAM Docent for about one and a half hours to walk Middle Street in downtown Gloucester.
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The Cape Ann Museum, founded in 1875, exists to preserve and celebrate the history and culture of the area and to keep it relevant to today’s audiences. Spanning 44,000 square feet, the Museum’s Downtown campus which is closed for renovations through spring 2026, remains a major cultural institution on Boston’s North Shore that has welcomed thousands of local, national, and international visitors annually to its exhibitions, programs and community led events. In addition to fine art, the Museum’s collections include decorative art, textiles, artifacts from the fisheries and granite industries, four historic structures, a Library & Archives and a sculpture garden in the heart of downtown Gloucester.
The Cape Ann Museum Green (CAM Green), the Museum’s campus off Grant Circle and Route 128 in Gloucester is home to the 12,000 square foot Janet & William Ellery James Center, built in 2020 which includes a flexible exhibition and community programming space designed to reach broader audiences with new exhibits and public programs. CAM Green also features three historic structures: the White Ellery House (1710), the Babson-Alling House (c.1740), an adjacent Barn (c.1740), a Contemporary Art Wetu (2023-2024) and a Mush8n (mi-shoon) (2023), an eastern woodlands boat.
General admission to the Cape Ann Museum Green campus is free. Due to limited parking, timed parking reservations for vehicles are recommended.
More information can be found on www.capeannmuseum.org or please call (978)283-0455 x110.
