Cape Hedge of SandyBayDay (just “hedge” here I believe) posted an old photo, possibly circa 1963 of Dock Square back in January. Last weekend I took the same photo. Surprising how little Dock Square has changed. But then, not really. I grew up on the other Cape. When I visit Falmouth I am not so peasantly surprised as to how much has been built. I love Cape Ann because although a lot has been rejuvenated it seems like no one has forgotten why it is a special place.
Almost 50 years and a roofline or two has dormered out and the cars have seat belts. Not sure about that telephone pole …
Send me your old photo and I will retake the shot today.
Good Morning Gloucester 
Have you ever seen the murals in the Community House of Downtown Rockport at the turn of the century. They go all around the walls in the front room.
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Adding that to my Rockport bucket list. I also just found a bunch of photos of old buildings that Joey had shot. Next up is Cape Ann Tool Company:
https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/2008/04/23/cape-ann-tool-company/
That is almost exactly how it looks today. A sad day when the condos go up on that corner.
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Used to be a lot more trees!
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There does seem to be less vegetation but there are two things going on that play down the trees.
1) My shot is in winter and the older shot is summer making the trees a little more visible.
2) In order to replicate the shot I had to cheat a bit. The old shot was likely a 50mm lens shot from about 70 yards away. If I had done the same thing the trees of the Dock Square Traffic Island would have obliterated the view of the Greenery and other store fronts. So I shot it very wide angle (35mm) only about 30 yards away and I framed it cutting out the trees on the left and right. (See the shadow of the Traffic Island tree in the road?) By doing that the store fronts are a lot “taller” so the trees in the background cannot be seen either.
If I shot it at the exact same spot as the first photographer in the summer with her lens the shot would be all green leaves and no stores.
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I hadn’t been to Rockport since the late 70’s and that was my first reaction when I drove there this summer…..It looks the same including the huge volume if Sunday tourists taking advantage of the Blue Law exemption Rockport always had…fun
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