About Gloucester, Massachusetts:
Gloucester is a coastal city on Cape Ann, in Massachusetts. Its fishing heritage is reflected in the harbor-side Fisherman’s Memorial, with a statue and names of those lost at sea. Cape Ann Museum has work by 1800s maritime artist Fitz Henry Lane. That heritage is also reflected in Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester.
Many of those involved in the fishing industry were Portuguese immigrants and experienced prejudice and discrimination in Gloucester as well as in other New England coastal towns.
About Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester, Massachusetts:
Opened in 1915, Our Lady of Good Voyage Church is a historic Roman Catholic church at 136-144 Prospect Street and 2-4 Taylor Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The first church on the site was built in 1892 to serve a large Portuguese immigrant population that came to Gloucester to work in the fishery.
A notable feature of Our Lady of Good Voyage is the carillon. The carillon is a musical instrument that can best be described as a pipe organ for bells, but even that fails to do it justice. There are only 170 traditional (non-automatic) carillons in the U.S. The carillon at Our Lady of Good Voyage consists of 31 bells cast by the Taylor Foundry in England and brought to the U.S. in 1922. The bells cost $10,000 (roughly $192,000 in today’s money) and would have been subject to a 35 percent tariff on musical instruments if not for Gloucester resident and U.S. Representative A. Piatt Andrew. He managed to get the bells exempt from the tariff with a bill signed by President Warren G. Harding. As a thank you, Andrew’s name is written on one of the bells. Most of them are named after saints and local bishops. The largest, Sao Joaquim, weighs 2,200 pounds.
Our Lady of Good Voyage is the only Catholic church in Massachusetts that has manually-operated carillon.
Facing the carillon is a stained-glass window of St. Anthony, and nearby is a window of St. Therese of Lisieux. There are photos of the church’s history, including one of John D. Rockefeller visiting, and guestbooks dating back to 1986.
Traveling to Our Lady of Good Voyage in Gloucester, Massachusetts:
Gloucester is roughly 40 miles north of Boston, the nearest major airport being Boston Logan Airport (Code BOS).
Address: 142 Prospect Street, Gloucester, Massachusetts
Phone: +1 (978) 283-1490
Click here for the official website of Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester, Massachusetts.