1. Emerson Inn By The Sea
City: Rockport, MA
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (978) 546-6321
Address: 1 Cathedral Ave.
Insider Pick:
Description: Located in Rockport’s residential Pigeon Cove neighborhood, this grand 19th-century inn is a town landmark. The sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean from the expansive veranda are picture-postcard perfect. The hotel is named for Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was once a guest at the hotel; look for framed quotations by the poet/philosopher in the parlor and dining room. Each of the inn’s 36 modernized rooms has a private bath (some have spa tubs) and is handsomely decorated in blue or red toile fabrics and cherrywood furniture. All rates include breakfast (buffet in the summer and fall, continental in the winter and spring). Behind the hotel is a large heated outdoor pool. And although the hotel is away from Rockport’s hubbub, it is still close enough for a pleasant walk to Bearskin Neck’s shops and restaurants.
2. The Pewter Shop
City: Rockport, MA
Category: Shopping
Telephone: (978) 546-2105
Address: 16 Bearskin Neck
Description: Located on Bearskin Neck, this nearly eight-decade-old shop sells mostly American-made pewter products, some of which are handcrafted by local artisans. You can get anything from a sand-dollar necklace to colonial candlesticks and a lobster-claw bottle opener; the Christmas tree ornaments are very popular souvenirs.
3. Paper House
City: Rockport, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Address: 52 Pigeon Hill St.
Insider Pick:
Description: A New England house made almost entirely of newspaper that has stood for more than 90 years is an attraction worth seeing. This 2-room summer cottage once belonged to Elis Stenman, a mechanical engineer and amateur inventor. Stenman built the home between 1922 and 1942 using more than 100,000 newspapers to construct the walls and furniture. His 20-year DIY project is remarkably well preserved—you can still see the headlines through the varnish. Open daily spring through fall. The house is usually unattended, but there is a lockbox honor system for admission.
4. Halibut Point State Park
City: Rockport, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 546-2997
Description: Good things do come in small packages, and this relatively short ocean ramble (just over 1 mile) offers quite the reward: views of Crane Beach in Ipswich, New Hampshire’s Isles of Shoals, and Maine’s Mount Agamenticus. At what was once a granite quarry, you can soak in the scenery by sitting on the large, flat boulders that line this part of the coast. At low tide the crashing waves leave behind salty tidal pools in the rocks that teem with snails and horseshoe crabs. Halibut Point is also a great spot to view seabirds like loons and grebes and if you are lucky, sometimes seals.
5. Rockport Chamber Music Festival
City: Rockport, MA
Category: Tours & Attractions
Telephone: (978) 546-7391
Address: 37 Main St.
Insider Pick:
Description: It’s hard to find a more gorgeous setting for music than the Shalin Liu Performance Center, perched on the edge of the Atlantic. A 2-story “window to the sea” serves as the backdrop for concerts in this intimate, 330-seat chamber recital hall. The smartly programmed festival takes place in June and July and typically features more than 20 concerts. Past guest artists have included pianist Leon Fleisher, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, and the Grammy-winning Parker String Quartet.