Dogtown

Massachusetts · United States · Road

The fishermen built their village inland, hidden in the woods. When the men were lost at sea the widows kept dogs, and the dogs outlived them.

Off Route 127 between Gloucester and Rockport, a road runs into the woods to a place called Dogtown, and there is nothing left of it but cellar holes.

The early fishermen built inland, hidden from the shore, to keep the settlement out of sight of enemy ships.

Men died at sea in numbers, and their widows were left in the woods alone. They kept dogs for protection. As the last women died the dogs remained, and eventually ran wild across the common. That is where the name comes from.

By the early 1800s the place was down to a handful of women living in poverty, some of them accused of witchcraft by the towns below, and the last resident died in 1830.

The boulders scattered across it were carved with words in the Depression by a man who paid unemployed stonecutters to do it, and they are still there.

Dogtown Common is open and easy to get lost in.

FAQ

Where is Dogtown located?

Dogtown is in Massachusetts, United States.