Bonfires, cookouts and swimming
I believe it’s “Lanes Cove,” in Gloucester, Mass., in the village of Lanesville. I’ve been going there for years (bonfires, cookouts on my boat, jumping off the seawall in the summer). It’s like being in a quaint little Maine harbor. A lot of moored boats there, but at high tide you can anchor on the west end and enjoy a swim or a picnic.
Glenn Towne
Essex, Mass.
So easy!
I’m a native of Gloucester who has been operating passenger boats for over 40 years, and as a retirement gig I’m running a passenger boat around Cape Ann in the summer months. I go by this cove every day. I just picked up your winter issue and was surprised to see that no one guessed this. We tell our passengers that this is the smallest working harbor (cove) on the U.S. East Coast. The red barn has just recently, within 10 years, been restored. To the left of the barn you can see the flat rocks that in the summer becomes a favorite party spot for the locals. The entrance to the cove is a small passage between two granite breakwaters. The uplands above the cove are dotted with old granite quarries. They had small-gauge railroad cars down to the cove to load the granite onto waiting schooners to be transported up and down the coast. They used to have a large 4th of July celebration with an enormous bonfire and local parade every year, but I guess it got a little out of hand and they discontinued it.
Donald Philip Steele, Jr.
Gloucester, Mass.
Could have been the winner . . .
Last month I glanced at the Mystery Harbor and thought I definitely knew it, but it was just a glance while I was at a store. This month I grabbed my own copy only to find it’s still there. Well, I scratched my brain and I’m pretty sure that’s Lanes Cove in Lanesville, Gloucester, Mass., which is right around the corner from where I grew up and spent my childhood sailing, fishing and being on the water.
Eli Slater
Amesbury, Mass.
