Aug. 25, 1916. 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 
Our Prettiest County? 
Editorial Reprinted 
From Boston Herald 
OR every three Bostonians that know Hingham, Cohas- 
set and Plymouth, is there one that knows Danvers, 
Rockport and Ipswich? We turn rightly to the Old 
Colony towns when seeking memorials of earlier days, 
but we rob ourselves of pleasure when we let the historic 
northeast corner of our state mean to us only Haverhill, 
Lawrence, Lynn. If Essex county were in California, it 
would be distributing for tourists in every station and 
hotel, from Red Blutf,to San Diego, the pictured stories 
of its charm. Yet California, for all her range of won- 
ders, has nothing with which to match the subtle beauties 
we ought to be enjoying a little north of Boston. 
Of course, along the coast you know the points that 
all the. public knows—Nahant and Marblehead, Salem, 
Beverly and Gloucester; perhaps you know the singing 
sands at Singing Beach, Manchester; the sweet bays at 
Magnolia, the sky-line of Pigeon hill at Rockport; but do 
you know Plum Island, too, and that group of five old 
towns in -bury—Amesbury, Salisbury, Newbury, West 
Newbury, Newburyport—where the wide Merrimac, with 
the last whirring spindle turned, slips lazily to the sea? 
Of course you know the criss-cross of quaint lanes in 
Marblehead; but have you found the colonial homesteads 
‘n Essex and Topsfield, the Georgian mansions in Hamil- 
ton and Danvers? You are interested in geology? Read 
what Prof. Shaler wrote about Cape Ann and see how 
long you can keep away. Your by-study is American 
literature? You need Essex county for your understand- 
ing of Hawthorne, Whittier and half a dozen other inter- 
preters of New England. Or are you an artist? You 
will find your colleagues by twos and threes in every 
town, and colony-wise in Ipswich. You will know why 
they are there, so soon as you, too, know the sand dunes 
and granite headlands; the tidemills, shipyards and old 
wharves; the marshes, silvered with inlets from the sea; 
the rolling orchards of Newbury, the murmuring pines in 
the Essex woods, the still reaches of the Shawsheen. Did 
you ever lose your heart to Dorsetshire in old England? 
In Essex country you will find its new world counterpart. 
Since the automobile came most of us have gained 
some fleet acquaintance with the main highways north- 
ward. Thanks to trolley and steam train, we can come 
to know well the quieter beauties of the byways in this 
half-appreciated region. No one who must take his vaca- 
tion without leaving Boston overnight need be grieved, 
so long as he has the days free for well-planned outings 
in Essex county. 
Driving About Old Cape Ann 
By ALEX. G. TUPPER 
A VERY attractive drive which is perhaps the most 
popular with tourists, is the trip around Cape Ann. 
If one has not the convenience of a carriage or automo- 
“pile the ride may be enjoyed on the trolley car, the track 
passing over the same road which would be taken by 
motor. Perhaps this ride is more extensively known be- 
cause of the wide advertising given to it by the Bay State 
Street Railway Company, in its folders describing New 
England trolley trips. All along the route there is some- 
thing of interest for the tourist in the typical New Eng- 
land scenes. Quaint houses with their old-fashioned 
gardens are found in a great many spots along the way, 
and the scene varies when one glances over hamlets from a 
height, the deep blue sea stretching beyond, or looks to 
beautiful hills rolling gracefully in the distance, where 
some old church spire stands like a white sentinel amid 
a cluster of lovely green elms and small roofs of varied 
triangles. 
Take the drive around Cape Ann on a clear day and 
you will enjoy it more. The questions often arise, “In 
which direction would you go?” ‘When is it best to go 
around the Cape, morning or afternoon 2”. In answering 
these questions, whether towards Rockport or toward 
Annisquam, from Center street station (the starting 
point), I would say to go toward Annisquam, as you will 
have the sun at the side of you or behind you, the most of 
the way. It is also better to go in the middle or late after- 
noon, when the light is not so strong, and purple and 
lavender shadows play about the hills and rocks. 
As we pass up Washington street some objects of 
interest are the old Ellery house with its long slanting 
roof nearly touching the ground, one of the oldest houses 
in Gloucester, built previous to 1710, and the Babson 
house to the right, the latter picturesque with its white- 
pillared colonial entrance around which stand the prim 
and lovely hollyhocks. This house erected 1740 still 
has the forms of the slave pens, mute reminders of the 
days when even Gloucester owned negro slaves. A little 
distance beyond these two old houses, where the car turn- 
out is located, is a spot called “The Green.” A beautiful 
view is had at this point of the stretch of meadowland 
and salt water marshes to the northward. On a clear day, 
there are little streams winding like blue ribbons in and 
out of the green sedges. From the “turnout” till after 
we pass the Addison Gilbert Hospital, we see off to our 
right great hills dotted with thousands of granite stones 
and small juniper trees, no houses in sight—this is “Dog 
Town,” the famous deserted Gloucester village. Here 
in Revolutionary days, while their husbands were at the 
battle front, the housewives went to live, carrying with 
them their dogs for protection. The families were thus 
less exposed to the fire of the enemy. Now all that re- 
trains of this curious hamlet are the cellars and door- 
stones with a few old wells. Dog Town may be reached 
by getting off the trolley at the “old mills.” and going up 
Leonard street past the school house. There are no 
regular roads in this strange place and unless a person is 
somewhat familiar with the footpaths in Dog Town, or is 
accompanied by a guide, one is liable to get lost. The 
thousands of boulders found on Dog Town are relics 
from the prehistoric glacial period and are of value to 
geologists, professors and students from various colleges 
visiting the place annually. 
As we leave Riverdale, we pass through an arch of 
beautiful willows which has became famous as one of 
Gloucester’s attractions, To the left, hidden by other 
