Research from Rockport

Before checking Wikipedia or carrying out a Google search: No, Rockport is not a major center of scholarly research. Nor, aside perhaps from the Sandy Bay Historical Society’s Museum, does it have a major archive or research library. As a well-known tourist seaport, Rockport’s population fluctuates wildly between the summer and winter

seasons, but its permanent population hovers around 7,000. In a word, it is decidedly not its larger and somewhat better known cultural cousin, Boston, likewise a seaport town located about 30 miles south along the coast. Although the local commuter rail can get you to Boston in a little over an hour (the line ends in Rockport), the predominant feeling here is, as the most eastern outcropping on Cape Ann, one of isolation and solitude. The local natives prefer it that way, and the fact that Cape Ann is actually an island helps to keep the developers at bay (pun intended).

The island is around 25 miles in circumference, and Rockport shares it with its larger neighbor, Gloucester, which is the better known fishing and seaport center. Virtually all of the populated area is around the circumference of the island along the coast, with most of the interior protected as conservation land. The woods are laced with wonderfully verdant hiking trails and swim quarries (Rockport was famous for its granite in the 19th and early 20th centuries), and there is a well-known ‘ghost town’ deep in the woods called Dogtown, made famous recently by erstwhile resident Anita Diamant and her novel The Last Days of Dogtown. Diamant is not the only author who has found inspiration on Cape Ann, indeed there is a long tradition of literary activity, stretching from Kipling’s Captains Courageous and continuing on through to T.S. Eliot’s childhood in Gloucester and to Charles Olson’s infamous Maximus Poems. More recently, Sebastian Junger and Mark Kurlansky have found inspiration here, and John Updike lives just south in the small coastal town of Manchester.

Rockport, Massachusetts (there is a larger Rockport in Maine), is regarded as a stellar example of a ‘classic’ New England coastal town.

Unlike the other, more famous, cape south of Boston, Cape Ann is delightfully undeveloped and is loved for everything that Cape Cod is not. Cape Anners guard the island’s natural and cultural authenticity with a vengeance, even to the point of turning down needed infrastructure improvements. Many consider the worst thing to have happened to Cape Ann was the building of the Piatt Bridge to extend the 128 Freeway onto the island in the 1950s. Cape Ann does have its summer tourists, but they’re more of an adventuresome nature and will not be looking for an arcade or mini-golf course. The rocky coast and the cold water tend to keep the numbers down, and Cape Ann certainly does not come close to experiencing the hoards that Cape Cod enjoys during the summer months.

These may not seem like the optimal conditions for scholarly research or other creative activity, and only a few years ago this was much truer than today. Back then there were a few hearty creative professionals working in Boston or Burlington (the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Massachusetts) who had discovered the benefits of non-urban living on Cape Ann, and getting to Boston was relatively stress-free via the commuter rail, but the lack of access to one’s work at the office, on campus, or elsewhere, precluded serious creative or intellectual activity at home in Rockport itself. Cape Ann has its fair share of stalwart Harvard and MIT faculty and staff who take the commuter rail into Boston, and while an hour-long train ride does take away from one’s discretionary time, at least it is ‘quality’ time that can be used for reading, writing reports, and other work. For many such commuters who have been doing this for many years, the commute provides one with a ‘yin-yang’ experience of urban living but with the advantage of being able to flee the constant din and stress of life in the city. Both Boston and Cambridge are densely populated, compact urban centers, which makes for a vibrant cultural scene but can also be draining because of the constant interaction with crowds of people. Towns like Rockport have provided a sanctuary for more reflective professionals, while at the same time being in relatively close proximity to a large urban center. In many ways it’s the best of both worlds.

The Information Revolution has radically changed the situation with ‘off-the-beaten-path’ communities like Rockport. As with many rural areas around the country, personal computers, the Internet, and global communications have utterly transformed the provincial nature of smaller, isolated communities. Whether it’s a town high in the Rockies, a hitching post in the Mojave Desert, a small logging community in the California Redwoods, or a New England fishing town, it is now possible to carry out significant research, creative activity, or other professional work from the comforts of one’s home office. A painter, for example, can enjoy the freedom and solitude of a small mountain town in in New Mexico, and can take in the colorful inspiration of a Georgia O’Keefe, but can still remain fully connected to the world at large with her computer and an Internet connection.

Only a few years ago,

Today, from my nicely outfitted home office that includes a state-of-the-art Scholar’s Workstation,

In 2002, the Carnegie Mellon professor Richard Florida developed a compelling theory that the most successful communities adapting to the global changes in the economy are those that can attract the educated creative professionals driving the new information and technology industries. Unlike their parents, young professionals, fresh out of college, want more than to just “find a job”; they are drawn to

The dense clustering of high-technology industries in urban areas or in suburban commerce centers can also lead to serious problems for young professionals still establishing themselves both in the workforce and in their private lives. As the kind of cultural centers that Richard Florida identified become “in”, or fashionable, rapid demographic growth creates the kinds of problems that have become familiar in cities like San Jose, San Francisco, or Boston. Even the robust salaries that the computing and information industries enjoy are frequently outstripped by rapidly rising costs for housing, transportation, and other cultural amenities in these desirable urban areas. For this reason the greater metropolitan areas of cities like Washington, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston, have continued to expand to provide housing for this growing class of creative professionals.

There’s no reason why smaller cultural centers like those found on Boston’s North Shore could not develop into smaller ‘hip’ enclaves of That this will happen is inevitable, but many smaller communities struggle with the lack of professional skills and infrastructure to align their commercial base to accommodate the information industries.

Scholarly Research from Anywhere, USA:
A Classic New England Coastal Town, for Example

Rockport Massachusetts

-First settled: ca. 1680s
-Known as the Sandy Bay Parish of Gloucester until
-Incorporated as town: 1840
- Official population: 7,767
- Less than 10% of population voted for George Bush
- Virtually all the inhabitants recognize evolution as a fact

Images of Rockport: A Slideshow

Research Benefits

- Cable Internet provider: Comcast
- High speed wireless Internet (EVDO): Verizon, Sprint
-Proximity to large research libraries in Boston/Cambridge
- Convenient train service to Boston (1 hour)
- Quiet coastal community with low-growth and no industry
- Few distractions, aside from the lobstermen and tourists
- Extensive woods and hiking trails on Cape Ann for thought and reflection (bring a digital recorder!)
- Long, grey Atlantic winters