Cape Ann Museum

06/12/2026

to artist D. Jerome Elwell (1847-1912)! Elwell was born in 1847 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He and his Gloucester-born cousin, Kilby W. Elwell, painted in the 1850s and 1860s, studying many of the same landscape subjects as Fitz Henry Lane (1804-1865). A new subject matter arose in 1867 when Gloucester built a new town hall on Dale Avenue. The building lasted only two years before it was destroyed by fire in 1869. D. Jerome Elwell recorded the damage in this evocative painting that stood as a reminder of the loss the citizens felt until the current city hall was built on the same site in 1871.
Elwell certainly admired the work of Fitz Henry Lane, and growing up in Gloucester he may have had the chance to see it in his own neighborhood. Later, Elwell studied in Belgium (supported by Gloucester philanthropist Samuel Elwell Sawyer) and traveled around Europe, spending time in Venice. There he became friends with James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), who painted Elwell’s portrait in 1900. Elwell died in 1912 in Naples, Italy.
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D. Jerome Elwel (1847-1912), “Burnt Ruins of Town House on Dale Avenue”, 1869. Oil on canvas. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Harold Bell, 1980 [2211].

06/11/2026

See you next weekend at the 6th Annual Gloucester Juneteenth Celebration on Friday, June 19, from 9–11:00 am!
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Join the Cape Ann Museum at Gloucester City Hall to celebrate , the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

🚩 9:00–9:30 am - Flag raising with comments from city officials and CAM staff outside City Hall.
📖 9:30–11:00 am - Community reading of Frederick Douglass’s “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” at Kyrouz Auditorium, Gloucester City Hall. Following the reading, the public is invited to stay for a facilitated discussion to discuss the speech and their experience reading it.

We hope that you can join us for this community gathering to reflect on important history and the work that still needs to be done. Learn more at
https://www.capeannmuseum.org/event/6th-annual-gloucester-juneteenth-celebration/.

06/10/2026

to artist Edward Henry Potthast (1857-1927)! Potthast was one of a large group of Cincinnati painters who migrated to Cape Ann around the turn of the century. Others included John Twachtman, Joseph DeCamp, and Frank Duveneck.
During the 1880s and early 90s, Potthast shuttled back and forth between Cincinnati and Europe, studying in Antwerp, Munich, and Paris, first at the Academie Julian and later at Fountain-bleau, Barbizon, and Grez, where he fell under the influence of the Impressionists. In 1895 he moved to New York City and made his first recorded trip to Cape Ann in 1896. He returned to Gloucester almost every summer for the next twenty-five years.
Potthast is primarily known as a painter of sun-drenched beach scenes depicting carefree women and children. In addition to the relatively rare portraits, there are also several Potthast paintings of Gloucester Harbor and the Cape Ann coast.
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Edward Potthast (1857-1927), “Portrait of a Fisherman,” 1900. Oil on canvas. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. Gift of Marietta E. Lynch, given in memory of Margaret Farrell Lynch, 1999 [1999.70.1].

06/09/2026

to artist Susannah Paine (1792-1862)! Paine was one of the earliest portrait painters on Cape Ann and the first professional woman artist that we know of to work in the area. She was an itinerant artist, a rarity for a woman, who earned her livelihood by traveling from community to community doing portraits on a commission basis. She is known to have worked on Cape Ann during the 1830s and 1840s.
Paine was born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts; her father was a mariner who was lost at sea when Susannah was a young child. Susannah attended what she would later describe as "the best" girls' academy in Rhode Island where she learned to read and write and was exposed to art. In 1819, she married James Phillips of Providence, and two years later gave birth to a son who died in infancy. In 1823, Paine was granted a divorce from the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Shortly thereafter, she began traveling around New England painting portraits.
Paine relied on local newspapers to give patrons advance notice of her arrival and to advertise her skills and her fees. By 1834, she had discovered Cape Ann and found work painting portraits of several families in the village of Annisquam. In 1854, Susannah Paine published “Roses and Thorns, or Recollections of an Artist,” an autobiographical work. In it she recalled her first impressions of Cape Ann: "the scenery was delightful; and the people, just to my liking. Everything was free, easy and agreeable… Cape Ann... was a singular place."
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Susannah Paine (1792-1862), “Lucy Kinsman Brown (Mrs. William Fuller Davis,” c. 1834. Oil on wood panel. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. From the estate of Lucy Brown Davis, daughter of the sitter, 1929 [551].

06/08/2026

These situations sure are scary, but the Cape Ann Museum isn’t a scary place!
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Essential hours + info to know before your visit:
🖼️ Downtown Campus reopens June 30, 2026
📍 27 Pleasant St., Gloucester, MA
🕰️ Tues–Sun @ 10 am–5 pm
🎟️ Timed-entry tickets are required for “Avery, Gottlieb & Rothko: By the Sea.”

🟩 CAM Green Campus reopens July 10, 2026
📍13 Poplar St., Gloucester, MA
🕰️ Fri–Sun @ 10 am–5 pm
🎟️ General admission to CAM Green is free.
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Videos of the Cape Ann Museum and CAM Green with eerie music and the following text:
Our top 5 horror movies:
1. I live on Cape Ann and have never been to CAM!
2. Wait, you have two campuses?
3. I don’t like heroic fishing stories or famous artists.
4. Oh, I didn’t know you had a Museum Store!
5. Isn’t the Cape Ann Museum just for adults?

06/07/2026

to artist Margaret Fitzhugh Browne (1884-1972)! Born in Boston in 1884, Margaret Fitzhugh Browne studied under Joseph DeCamp at the Massachusetts Normal School (now the Massachusetts College of Art) and with Frank Benson at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. She began showing her work in 1915 and was included in the Vose Gallery's First Annual Exhibition of Women Painters of Boston in 1917.
In addition to painting and exhibiting, she wrote art criticism and the book, “Portrait Painting.” Known mainly as a portraitist, Browne was commissioned to paint the portraits of such turn-of-the-century luminaries as Henry Ford, John Hays Hammond Sr., Howard Blackburn and King Alfonso of Spain.
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Margaret Fitzhugh Browne (1884-1972), Collection of the Cape Ann Museum:
(1) “John Hays Hammond, Sr.,” 1929. Oil on canvas. Gift of Daniel and Jenifer McDougall, 1991 [2770].
(2) “Emily ‘Bonnie’ Browne, the Artist's Sister,” c. late 1920s. Oil on canvas. Gift of Daniel and Jenifer McDougall, 2004 [2004.50].
(3) “Portrait of Joe Rice of Annisquam,” c. 1930. Oil on canvas. Gift of Roy and Sheila Mennell, 2008 [2008.53].

06/06/2026

Today’s theme is , and what could be more fun than exploring creativity through different materials and textures!
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Children of preschool to upper elementary age (ages 3-10) and their caregivers are invited to Art & Sensory: Children’s Art Making with art educator Sarah Brown at the Cape Ann Museum on Wednesdays, July 15–August 12, from 10:30–11:30 am. Projects are always step-by-step and hands-on to encourage sensory guidance and fine motor skills, and to help create individual masterpieces!
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Sarah Brown is the founder and creator of Art & Sensory and has been an educator for over a decade. With a background in Early Childhood Education and Special Education, Sarah has worked with elementary children of all abilities! Sarah truly believes that art is a strong form of therapy, growing, and consistent learning and development for all young learners.
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Free and open to the public. Children must be accompanied by at least one adult.
Registration required due to limited materials. Learn more and register at https://www.capeannmuseum.org/series/art-sensory/.
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Photo by Sarah Brown.

06/05/2026

Summer Walking Tours are back! Experience history coming alive on the Walking Tour: Patriots and Privateers of Revolutionary Middle Street on Friday, June 12, from 10:30 am–12 pm.
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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—we 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.
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Stroll with a CAM Docent for about 1 1/2 hours as you walk Middle Street in downtown Gloucester. Please note that some sidewalks on the tour are rugged and uneven and not all fit the width of wheelchairs or walkers. Tours are light rain or shine.

📍CAM Downtown Campus, 27 Pleasant Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
🗓️ This tour is also offered on Fridays, June 19 and August 7, 2026.
Registration required. Learn more and register at
https://www.capeannmuseum.org/events/category/walking-tours/.

06/04/2026

For today’s theme of , we present a piece of wood that could tell a thousand tales—not just because it is a desk in the CAM Library & Archives, but because it was originally a part of the mahogany bar top in Howard Blackburn’s tavern! Stop by the CAM Library & Archives when the Downtown Campus reopens on June 30, 2026, to encounter this special object—now the witness of stories recorded in books instead of yarns spun among fishermen.
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“Among nautical men Blackburn’s was one of the best-known saloons on the North Atlantic seaboard, a favorite hangout for fishermen from Newfoundland to New York whenever they touched at Gloucester. The proprietor was generally behind the bar from the hour it opened in the morning until closing time late at night. Business would increase as the day wore on, and by the late afternoon and evening the saloon presented a picture that has remained one of the nostalgic symbols of the era—the long mahogany bar crowded elbow to elbow with roughly dressed fishermen, shifting their feet in the fresh sawdust on the floor; the glistening brass spittoons; the famous paintings on the wall, darkly ominous beyond the smoke-dimmed glow of the gas lights—all of it presided by the commanding figure of the owner with his neatly parted hair and handlebar mustache. He stood behind the bar, cigar clenched in the thumb stub of one hand, the other crooked on his hip.”
– Joseph E. Garland, Lone Voyager: The Extraordinary Adventures of Howard Blackburn, Hero Fisherman of Gloucester, p. 72-73. New York: Touchstone, 2000.
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Collection of the Cape Ann Museum:
(1) Blackburn bar top desk in the CAM Library & Archives. Gift of George W. Belezos.
(2 Left) Margaret Fitzhugh Browne (1884–1972), “Captain Howard Blackburn, the Lone Voyager,” 1928. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Master Mariners Association, Gloucester, 2012 [2012.49].
(2 Right) Howard Blackburn’s second saloon and home at 289-91 Main St. Designed by architect Ezra Phillips in 1900. Photo c.1910.

06/03/2026

Where Are Vogue Staffers Going On Summer Vacation? To the Cape Ann Museum!

Read more about how Gloucester stands among destinations like Greece, Côte d’Azur, and St Barths at

From under-the-radar Greek islands to beachy New England retreats, here are the trips that the Vogue team has booked this summer.