Gloucester's Rocky Neck Cultural District

Gloucester’s Rocky Neck Cultural District is a place of extraordinary natural beauty where visual artists, performing artists, and writers have lived and worked since at least the mid-1800s. Situated on Gloucester’s working harbor, Rocky Neck is central to four nearby predominant arts institutions: the Rocky Neck Art Colony, the North Shore Arts Association, the Gloucester Stage Company, and the Gloucester Writers Center. The district layout extends from Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main St., to and including the Rocky Neck peninsula. Along the way, oceanfront vistas include Gloucester Harbor, Ten Pound Island, Smith Cove, the Dog Bar Breakwater, Stage Fort Park, Magnolia, and the Boston skyline.

Throughout the district and its surrounding area of East Gloucester, visitors will find many points of historic interest: homes where noted artists worked and lived, vistas captured in paintings throughout the years, and sites where art was shown, performed, debated, and discussed. In addition to Niles Beach, the District has areas of open space maintained by the City of Gloucester, notably Trefrey’s Park and the Marble Road Conservation Area.

The Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, the new home of the Rocky Neck Art Colony, has quickly become a top-tier, year-round exhibitions space for curated shows and artist-member exhibitions, as well as a host of lectures, workshops, classes and demonstrations. Rocky Neck is also home to the Goetemann Artist-In-Residency Program and the Distinguished Teacher/Artist series every summer. In addition to this, the 'Neck has a bustling summertime community of working artists, studios and galleries, local retail shops, restaurants and eateries. There is even a educational historic walking tour around Rocky Neck that highlights some of the more famous notables from the art-world, and their work and lives.