Easy hikes and walks around Gloucester

Cressy Beach is the larger of the two beaches located within Stage Fort Park. This scenic, rocky beach overlooks Gloucester Harbor and is a great place to relax and swim or explore and play games in the park. There are restrooms located in the park, just up the grassy hill from the beach, and there is also a privately owned restaurant nearby for you to enjoy.

Haskell Pond is a large freshwater lake just west of Red Rocks and has miles of trails that encircle it, popular among hikers, runners, and bikers. Keep an eye out for a wide variety of wildlife as you go as well.

Stage Head was a fishing stage, named in 1624. The first fort was built here in 1635. Today it's a state park with two beaches, the reconstructed civil war fort and other leisure infrastructure.

Although this area is perhaps better known for the Babson Boulders and their quirky phrases, Dogtown's history extends far past the Great Depression. Dogtown was originally known as the Common Settlement when it was settled in 1693. Within a few decades, there were about 60 to 80 homes in Dogtown, and by the mid-1700s through the American Revolution, there were as many as 100 families in Dogtown. Although none of these early homes remain, you can still make out cellar holes from this period in this area. Babson mapped and numbered these holes in the 1930s with caved rocks that you can see today.

Haskell Pond is a large freshwater lake just west of Red Rocks. There is a network of hiking, trail running, and mountain biking trails around the pond as well as an old public road that once gave access to this city reservoir. As you hike, be on the lookout for bird and other animals, as well as rock climbers working on boulder "problems" (shorter routes on boulders where you do not need ropes, only thick pads below) in the woods surrounding the pond. You can access the trails and old roads around Haskell Pond from the east through Red Rocks or from the north from Essex Ave and Forest Lane.

Overlooking one of the basefall fields in Stage Fort Park is a large bronze plauque on a huge grantite cliff that reads: "On this site in 1623, a company of fishermen and farmers from Dorchester, England, under the direction of Rev. John White, founded THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY. From that time the fisheries, the oldest industry in the commonwealth, have been uninterruptedly pursed from this port. Here in 1625, Gov. Roger Conant, by wise diplomacy, averted bloodshed between contending fractions, one led by Myles Standish of Plymouth, the other by Capt Hewes, a notable exemplification of arbitration in the beginnings of New England. Placed by citizens of Gloucester, 1907." This plaque speaks to the rich history of the area and believe it or not, you can sometimes see rock climbers ascending the rock faces next to the historic plaque!

Stage Fort Park is a park in Gloucester with a rich history. Gloucester's Visitor and Welcome Center and a reconstructed Civil War fort, Stage Fort, are both within park grounds. The park also has a playground, picnic benches, baseball fields, a dog park, and a bathhouse. There are two beaches in the park, Cressy and Half Moon Beach, stunning viewpoints, as well as a huge granite stone (with a plaque) thought to have been used by Native Americans, and cannons leftover from a Civil War-era fort. There is a privately owned seasonal restaurant, The Cupboard of Gloucester, where you can order fried clams and sandwiches.

From this viewpoint above Half Moon Beach in Stage Fort Park you get fantastic panoramic views over Gloucester Harbor, the Atlantic Ocean, and of downtown Gloucester. In addition to the fantastic views, you can also see some old cannons here that are left over from the military fort that once stood here.