2013-07-25-Gloucester, MA-Waterfront & Hammond Castle

Georgia and I picked Barb, Laurie and Bonnie at Logan Airport and drove immediately to Gloucester, where I'd booked us on a boat trip of Gloucester Harbor and the waters around Cape Ann. Unfortunately, a rare summer Nor'Easter created dangerous conditions on the water and the cruise was cancelled. Instead, we visited Hammond Castle in Gloucester which proved to be very interesting and entertaining.From Wikipedia: Hammond Castle is located on the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The castle, which was constructed between 1926 and 1929, was the home and laboratory of John Hays Hammond, Jr. Mr. Hammond was an inventor who was a pioneer in remote control and held over four hundred patents. The building is a collection of 15th-, 16th-, and 18th-century architectural elements and sits on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.At present, the castle operates as the Hammond Castle Museum, with Hammond's collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts, and exhibits about his life and inventions. Tours are self-guided, and visitors may explore the eight chambers, an elaborate courtyard, two towers and an elaborate ballroom.Outside of museum hours, the castle's yard overlooking the ocean serves as a location for weddings and various other private functions. For the past 25 years, the castle has run a special Halloween-themed haunted house every October. Volunteers for the production are often high school students from the Cape Ann, North Shore area. The Halloween display attracts thousands of visitors per year.