Dogtown 4

While visiting Gloucester recently (but not that recently), we had the opportunity to go on a nice walk through Dogtown. Cape Ann, North of Boston, features a few towns such as Gloucester and Rockport. In the center of the Cape is some higher ground that apparently was once settled to some extent and known as Dogtown. The town has long since been abandoned, and is forested with the kind of scrubby secondary growth you find in most natural areas on the East Coast. The most interesting feature of the area are the 30-odd boulders, strategically placed in basically the middle of the woods, carved with pro-values messages. These were funded essentially as a make-work project by a local tycoon during the Depression. Most of the boulders we found were limited to a single inspiring word, but there are several with somewhat more elaborate phrases.

On the downside, the woods also feature some really mean bald-faced hornets, which we learned the hard way.