Gloucester Harbor - The Soul of Cape Ann September 2025

"Gloucester Harbor - The Soul of Cape Ann" was the subject of the Jonathan Bayliss Society's multidisciplinary conference on the weekend of September 5-7, 2025. Bayliss lived and wrote within about half a mile of Gloucester Harbor for more than fifty years, and his wide-ranging GLOUCESTERMAN novels refer countless times to Gloucester's magnificent natural harbor and its working waterfront. 

The JBS is grateful for support from conference partners Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute, Gloucester Writers Center, Maritime Gloucester, Mass Oyster Project, Neptune's Harvest, Sawyer Free Library, and Schooner Adventure. The conference was funded in part by the Gloucester and Rockport Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, by the Brace Cove Foundation, and by individual donors.

Much of the conference took place at Maritime Gloucester's historic complex of buildings, wharves, and marine railway at the edge of the working harbor - the perfect venue for harbor-related talks, readings, song, and waterfront tours.