Rockport sits at the tip of Cape Ann, on the Massachusetts coast north of Boston, and it is a town that lives by granite and by its looks. A red fishing shack on a wharf in the harbour, known as Motif Number 1, has been painted and photographed by so many artists that it is often called the most painted building in America, and a visit to the quay at dawn, with fishing boats and lobster pots in the light, shows why. The town's streets are lined with galleries and shops, and a stone breakwater curves out into the water.
The rock under your feet explains the town. Cape Ann is made of tough grey granite, and from the early nineteenth century the quarries here supplied stone for buildings, bridges and paving blocks across the country, with ships carrying it to Boston and New York. The workings are now flooded, forming deep green pools, and the big one at Halibut Point State Park can be reached by a short walk. The park has a ledge of granite sloping to the sea, where waves crash and gulls wheel, and on a clear day you can see the coast of New Hampshire and the Isles of Shoals.
Offshore, Thacher Island carries twin lighthouses, built in the 1860s, which can be seen from the shore and visited by boat in season. Rockport's narrow streets, especially around Bearskin Neck, a spit of land jammed with shops, restaurants and old fishing sheds, are charming but crowded, and the summer weekends are almost impossible. The roads to town, Route 127 and Route 127A, wind through woods and past stone walls, with glimpses of the sea, and they are narrow, twisty and slow.
Gloucester, six kilometres away, has the fuel stations and larger supermarkets, along with a famous fishing fleet and a memorial to fishermen lost at sea. Rockport has small shops, and a lobster roll at a harbourside shack is the traditional meal. Fog is common on this coast, and the air is cool even in July, so bring a layer. October is a lovely month, with the crowds gone and the autumn light on the water. If you can, stay for sunset.