Coastal Cape Ann Gardens - Gloucester, Essex & Rockport, MA

Highlights

• Deluxe Motorcoach
• 2 Nights Ocean House Hotel at Bass Rocks
• deCordova Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA - a sculpture park featuring over 60 sculptures set on 30 acres
• Sunset Estuary Cruise on the bucolic Essex River
• Long Hill Estate garden tour, Beverly, MA - the summer estate of author & writer Ellery Sedgwick
• Hammond Castle guided tour, Gloucester, MA - constructed in 1926 as the home, lab and museum of inventor John Hays Hammond Jr
• Lobster Dinner Cruise aboard the Beauport Princess in Gloucester Harbor
• Beauport Sleeper-McCann House private tour - a National Historic Landmark perched overlooking Gloucester Harbor
• Castle Hill at the Crane Estate tour, Ipswich, MA - historic home known for its Grand Allee - landscaped lawn framed by trees & statues
• 6 Meals: 2 Cont'l Breakfasts, 2 Lunches, 2 Dinners
• Friendship Tours Escort

Itinerary

Day 1

Our first stop will be at DeCORDOVA SCULPTURE PARK and MUSEUM, which is the largest park of its kind in New England. Providing a constantly changing landscape of large-scale, outdoor, modern and contemporary sculpture. Enjoy a scenic drive through Gloucester on our way to the Ocean House Hotel at Bass Rocks. Check in at our home for the next few nights. After dinner tonight, we will enjoy a sunset cruise through the estuary along the Essex River.

Day 2

After breakfast, we depart for our guided tour at Long Hill in Beverly, MA. Originally the private home of the Sedgwick family from 1916 to 1979, the gardens are a living example of passionate plant collecting. The elegant plantings and cultivated grounds of this public garden bloom with vibrancy that is more than a century in the making. Lunch will be at Woodman’s in Essex, famous for their local fried clams and other seafood. After lunch, we continue to Hammond Castle Museum for a tour. With nearly 100 years of history, this medieval-style castle was the creation of famed inventor John Hays Hammond Jr. and now serves as an exciting STEAM museum that blends history, science, and art. Our dinner tonight will be a Lobster Dinner Cruise aboard the Beauport Princess. Enjoy an evening cruise through Gloucester Harbor, one of America’s oldest harbors.

Day 3

After breakfast and check-out, we depart for the Sleeper-McCann House for our tour. Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, a National Historic Landmark, was the summer home of one of America’s first professional interior designers, Henry Davis Sleeper. Perched on a rock ledge overlooking Gloucester Harbor, Beauport was Sleeper’s retreat, backdrop for entertaining, and professional showcase, and an inspiration to all who visited. We will have a private tour while this is closed to the public! Next, we will have time for lunch on our own and shopping at Bearskin Neck, a very picturesque seaside village in Rockport. Our last stop on our wonderful Cape Ann tour will be Castle Hill at The Crane Estate. Castle Hill at the Crane Estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a historic property known for its grand 59-room Stuart-style mansion, designed by architect David Adler in the 1920s for industrialist Richard T. Crane Jr. The estate sits atop a hill with stunning views of the Atlantic Ocean and salt marshes. Its most iconic feature is the Grand Allée, a half-mile-long, landscaped lawn that slopes from the mansion to the water, framed by trees and statues. Continue home with great memories of this great summer break in Cape Ann.

Departure Locations

Pricing