Gloucester Harbor

Gloucester, which was the first settlement on the North Shore of Massachusetts Bay, lies on the peninsula of Cape Ann, Massachusetts. It was a busy seaport known not only for its fishing industry, but also for its attraction to tourists and artists. In fact, by the third quarter of the nineteenth century, it had developed a reputation as a good place for artists to work. Homer spent the summer of 1873 in Gloucester, where he lived at the Atlantic Hotel. He spent his days sketching and made his first series of watercolors that summer.