Essex River Tour
Cape Ann, MA
July 22, 2007
by Bruce Marshall

Photos by Bruce Marshall

It's always a good start to a Minuteman tour when the weather cooperates and Sunday July 22nd dawned bright, warm and beautiful.  The main tour group left the Grange parking lot at 9 AM led by Doug and Nan Linden (thank you!) headed for Essex, MA.  On the way, they picked up the Samuels in Bedford and by the time they met the two yellow Cabriolet Convertibles in Wilmington there were fourteen (14) Model A's, a 1936 Chrysler (Ralph Parks) and a classic Ford pickup truck (Dick and Nancy Graham) in the group.  Bruce and Cookie now led the group east on route 62 through Wilmington, North Reading and Middleton until we turned left at Cobb's Corner and headed towards Cape Ann.

The ride east was scenic and Sun-sational as we went through Topsfield and down the Ipswich Road.  In the bustling downtown of Ipswich we made a hard right onto route 133, over the historic Choate Bridge and we were now only a short drive from Essex, MA the home of Essex River Cruises, Periwinkle's Restaurant and the fried clam.

We arrived at Periwinkle's Restaurant a bit early but that worked to our advantage in that there was no problem finding parking for all of the cars. A short time later the Jacobson's, the Sullivan's (1960 Ford Sunliner Convertible) and the Tallone's arrived and then Lisa and Tom Zappala chugged into the parking lot in their 1930 Station Wagon they having spent the first part of the weekend in Portsmouth, NH.

The restaurant opened for us right on time and the seating inside offered delightful views of the Essex River, numerous boats, birds and other wildlife.  The service was outstanding and the food was also great.  I was impressed with the portion sizes considering it was a lunch and the baked haddock was some of the best that I have ever had!  After the main course we all enjoyed a special cake for dessert.  Tom and Lisa were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and as a surprise we had a special cake ready for the occasion replete with a photograph of Tom, Lisa and their woody wagon on the cake.  One of our group even got cake AND ICE CREAM!

After lunch we drove the short distance to the Essex River Cruise dock and boarded the Essex River Queen II with Captain Dan.  The next 90 minutes were spent cruising up the river and around the bay while Dan entertained the 38 Minuteman members and guests with his extensive knowledge of the area, funny stories and corny jokes.  We learned all about the invention of the fried clam, the blueblood families of Cape Ann and the various wildlife along the tidal river.

After the river cruise we decided that we would stop for ice cream at Richardson's Ice Cream (hey, it was on the way back) in Middleton.  Heading out of Essex we swung down route 22 and ended up going through Hamilton, MA home of humans, horses and the Myopia Hunt Club (golf and polo).  Somehow I remembered the way back to route 62 and we arrived at Richardson's and a very full parking lot.  Fortunately, they know how to handle huge crowds and they had plenty of windows open so the wait for our ice cream was very short.

By 4 PM it was time to head home after a long and very enjoyable day touring Cape Ann and environs.  Many thanks to Cookie Smith who put together the entire well planned and orchestrated trip!