THE DORYMEN: Stories from the Atlantic Fisheries

The history of New England is in large part the story of the Atlantic fisheries.  Over the years thousands of men have set out from Gloucester and Rockport, Provincetown and Portland, in pursuit of the cod, mackerel, herring and halibut that fed the world.  They sailed in two-masted schooners, fished from two-man dories, facing winter storms and fogs on Georges Bank and the Grand Bank, Western Bank and Le Have.  It was a time when men might spend three hours clinging to an overturned dory - and go right back out to their trawl again!

Merrill Kohlhofer is a regular performer on the schooner Thomas Lannon of Gloucester. There, he brings the dorymen to vivid life.  Now you too can meet the "Great Patillo" and Captain John McFarland, who feard nothing on land or on sea.  Join in Winthrop Sargent's twelfth birthday - the most exciting ever! - and experience a winter voyage to Georges Bank. Merrill Kohlhofer will bring all this home to you!

 

THE KEEPER OF THE LIGHT: A Historical Interpretation

Fascinated by lighthouses in general and the twin lights of Thatcher Island in particular?  Eager to learn what it was like to be a keeper stationed on this tiny island nearly a mile offshore of Cape Ann? This performance by noted local storyteller and historic interpreter Merrill Kohlhofer brings the vanished days of manned lighthouses to vibrant life as he portrays a keeper of the Cape Ann Light.  Storms and calms, daily work and adventures, shipwrecks and fogs all echo across the stage.  It's the next best thing to being there!