North Shore Harbours

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Salem

   Say Salem to an American and the answer is 1692. That year, in the grip of fear and bitter local feuds, a court in this small Massachusetts seaport condemned nineteen people to hang for witchcraft, and another man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death under stones for refusing to plead. The trials ended within a year, and in the decades afterwards the colony openly regretted them. Today the town leans into the story with witch museums, costumed guides and shops selling crystals, and in October it fills with so many visitors that the streets nearly seize up.

   Read the complete Salem write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Salem is where the day begins. Next is Beverly.

2. 2. Beverly

   Beverly says it is the birthplace of the American Navy, and Marblehead and Newburyport say the same, so it is a safe bet that the first ship of the Continental service was the subject of a spirited local argument. In 1775 a schooner called Hannah, fitted out here under orders from George Washington, put to sea to capture British supply ships, and the town has treasured the claim ever since. The harbour that launched her still works, though today the boats are mostly yachts, and the waterfront has been tidied for the sea-view apartments.

   Read the complete Beverly write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Beverly comes up about 5 km into the recorded legs. Next is Manchester-by-the-Sea.

3. 3. Manchester-by-the-Sea

   Manchester-by-the-Sea is a small town on Massachusetts's North Shore, a place of about five thousand people on the southern flank of Cape Ann, and it has the look of a New England postcard. White clapboard houses, a harbour full of small boats and a stone-walled park on the waterfront give it a tidy, old-fashioned charm. The town was called Manchester until 1989, when residents added the words by-the-Sea to avoid confusion with the New Hampshire city, and the 2016 film that borrowed the name made it known around the world.

   Read the complete Manchester-by-the-Sea write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 18 km into the recorded legs you reach Manchester-by-the-Sea. Next is Magnolia.

4. 4. Magnolia

   Magnolia has an odd name for a granite coast in Massachusetts, and the explanation is unusually good. In the nineteenth century a sweetbay magnolia was found growing wild in a swamp here, hundreds of miles north of its normal range, and the village took its name from the tree. The tree is still said to survive in the swamp, and it is a small mystery of botany, a southern plant left behind in a northern climate. It is also a reminder that Cape Ann's cold, rocky edge has pockets of surprising shelter.

   Read the complete Magnolia write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Magnolia, late in the day. Next is Gloucester.

5. 5. Gloucester

   Gloucester claims to be America's oldest seaport, settled in 1623, and the town has been pulling fish out of the Atlantic ever since. It sits on Cape Ann, the granite thumb that sticks out of Massachusetts north of Boston, where the coast is a tangle of coves, boulders and working harbours instead of the long sandy beaches farther south. The bronze fisherman at the wheel on the waterfront, put up in 1925, looks toward the sea with the words about those who go down to it in ships, and the memorial lists thousands of local names lost over the centuries. Sebastian Junger's book The Perfect Storm, set among a Gloucester swordfish crew, made that grief known to the rest of the world.

   Read the complete Gloucester write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Gloucester. That is the ride.