Need info on some Massachusetts geography...

the_grip on 25/6/2006 at 13:18

i'm running a Call of Cthulhu RPG coming up, and i'd appreciate a small amount of info on Massachusetts (if anyone lives there). So far, i'm having the group start out in Hamilton, MA at an Antiquarian Research Group (which will be like a small store) and go to an auction house in Gloucester, MA. Further, the items sold in the auction are from a wealthy Russian immigrant who lived on an estate in Gloucester.

The only problem is that i've only been to Boston. i'm not sure if these two cities would support the scenario i'm proposing. Granted, the game will be set in 1983, but i doubt it is *that* much different. i'm a stickler for details to some degree, and i'd like to make it at least quasi-realistic (or at least the backdrop at any rate). For example, if Gloucester is really more of a trailer park (which i doubt), then i don't want to try and stick a wealthy estate there.

If anyone is from Essex County or knows the "lay of the land", i'd appreciate some insight... are these locations valid for such a setting, and, if not, do you have any recommendations for alternatives?

Thanks!!

Parker'sSire on 25/6/2006 at 16:02

Gloucester is known as America's oldest seaport. (est 1623) The entire identity of the city is tied up in the fact that it is the quintessential New England fishing town. (Perhaps that, in itself, could fit into the Lovecraftian scenario)You know that famous (http://www.alamy.com/stock_photography/2/1/Charlie+Borland/A5EAAA.html) Fisherman's Memorial statue? That's the symbol of Gloucester. It doesn't seem to be a big auction-type place. (see the links below), but there's no reason in the world you couldn't put one there.
If you're going to be outside at all, make sure you get some good seagull audio.

To my mind, a better choice might be nearby Rockport. It's the next town over from bigger, more famous Gloucester but has a different character. You will definitely find estates there and it has a really strange surreal quality about it, as opposed to the old, average, feeling of Gloucester.
It's was a dry town for many years and was primarily known as an "artist" community. "Eccentric" is a good term for Rockport...I love the place.
The "center" of the town is on the water and is made up of shops, and tourist type places. But it never gets gaudy or phony.

An interesting Rockport story: on the 4th of July, they don't do fireworks. They build and burn a huge ""wicker man" type bonfire on the beach. They build the figure out of wooden boxes and accessorize it. It's got to be one of the the creepiest things I've experienced. A local "Sgt. Pepper" type band (not professional) plays in the gazebo nearby. The whole thing is completely surreal.
Eventually the massive "wicker man" tumbles. I could not get the image of somebody inside that thing out of my head.

The movie "The Letter" was shot in Rockport, if you want to see what it looks like.

Also check out:
(http://www.paperhouserockport.com/) Paper House
(http://www.hammondcastle.org/) Hammond Castle

Auction Houses in Massachusetts, (http://www.auctionguide.com/dir/Locations/USA/Massachusetts/) 1, (http://auction-house.iaf.net/yp-states/MA.html) 2

Don't know Hamilton at all, but Salem could be a good place for the "Antiquarian" group to be located.

I get the feeling that most auctions would be centered around Boston, no matter where the pieces originated from. But I could be wrong. And, in the end, who cares?

Gloucester:
(http://www.ci.gloucester.ma.us/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=118&MMN_position=50:50) Short History... (http://www.seecapeann.com/see_gloucester.html) description

demagogue on 25/6/2006 at 17:09

My geography sense is of the area I'm living in now used to be so awful that before I moved here I thought that Massachusetts was south of NYC. It's actually north. I guess I was thinking of the fact that the bulk of NY State is north of Mass. Geography is just too crammed into too little a space in New England. Nothing like the everything West of the Mississippi.

the_grip on 28/6/2006 at 18:12

Parker'sSire,

Gold mine. Thanks a ton.