With a quick trip home scheduled for the crew, Madrone needed a place to park for a week or so. One of the nice features of the New England coast of the US is that there are harbors nearly everywhere, so there were a lot of options.
We chose a small coastal town with a big name: Manchester-by-the-Sea. Located about an hour (by car) north of Boston near Cape Ann, the town is home to about 5,000 residents. In the mid-1800s, it became a popular summer getaway for wealthy Bostonians, and one of the results is a collection of beautiful houses nestled into the trees along the equally beautiful rocky shoreline.
Just a couple of miles outside the small harbor are the Misery Islands. Once the site of a summer resort, the islands are now a public access park managed by The Trustees of Reservations, the oldest regional land trust in the world. While waiting for a spot in Manchester’s harbor to become available, we anchored off the park and enjoyed the trails.
Madrone’s home for the week away is a mooring generously loaned to us by the Manchester Yacht Club. Together with the many, many other boats packed into the small inner harbor, Madrone tugged gently at her mooring while waiting patiently for the chance to sail further north.
