Nestled on the island peninsula of Cape Ann on the North Shore of Massachusetts, Gloucester, known as "America's Oldest Seaport," was founded in 1623 by farmers and fishermen from Dorchester, England, as the first permanent European settlement in Massachusetts. This had been the second European attempt at settling the area, and though it initially struggled, Gloucester maintained its status as a fishing village and became a major New England commercial...

Resting on a granite base in the center of Gloucester's long, narrow Stacey Esplanade is the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial. It is an eight-foot tall, bronze statue of a fisherman dressed in oilskins standing braced at the wheel on the sloping deck of his ship. It is positioned so that the fisherman is looking out over Gloucester Harbor. The English sculptor Leonard F. Craske (1882-1950) designed the sculpture, and it was cast by the Gorham Company...