Afternoon: 3-5 pm hotel and Road Scholar registration. Welcome and general motel information and an introduction to tour leaders. Dinner to immediately follow.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel.

Evening: A closer look at the week's program and an opportunity for the group to make introductions

Lodging: Rockport Inn & Suites

Meals Included: Dinner

Explore Historic Salem during a walking tour and visit to the old Custom House.

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Enjoy a walk along historic streets with a Salem historian. We’ll walk along the most beautiful street in Salem, High Street, with its elegant sea captains’ mansions. We’ll walk by the memorial to the 1692 Witchcraft Trails victims and hear the true story of this sad chapter in American history.

Lunch: Lunch in Salem

Afternoon: This afternoon, we’ll follow in the footsteps of Nathaniel Hawthorne, visiting the old Custom House where he used to work. And we’ll walk by Pickering Wharf, hearing tales of old Salem and its colorful maritime history. There has been a Custom House in Salem since 1649, collecting taxes on imported cargos first for the British Government during the Colonial period, then for the American Government after the establishment of the U. S. Customs Service in 1789. This Custom House was built in 1819 and housed offices for the officers of the U.S. Customs Service, as well as an attached warehouse, the Public Stores, used for the storage of bonded and impounded cargo. The Custom House symbolized the Federal Government's presence in Salem, requiring the architects to design an impressive building. High ceilings, a sweeping staircase, and beautifully carved woodwork all contribute to a feeling of strength and stability. The Salem Custom House was used by the U. S. Customs Service into the 1930s, and the furnishings reflect the long use of the building. Today, the U.S. Custom House in Salem contains exhibits on the tools of the Custom Service, the work of the Customs inspectors, and the office of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the famous American author whose three-year-long stint in the Salem Custom House inspired his classic novel, The Scarlet Letter.

Dinner: Dinner in Rockport

Evening: Enjoy a free evening to relax or explore Rockport.

Lodging: Rockport Inn & Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel

Morning: Join an expert guide this morning for a walking tour around the beautiful historic quarry of Halibut Point State Park, located on the tip of Cape Ann. Here we learn about the quarrying industry that supplied much of New England with its granite for centuries. "The Atlantic Path" then leads us along beautiful cliffs overlooking the ocean. Halibut Point is a uniquely beautiful coastal seascape. Looking seaward on a clear day, the view stretches from Crane Beach in Ipswich to Mount Agamenticus in Maine and the Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire.

Lunch: Lunch in Rockport

Afternoon: For over 160 years people have been attracted to Rockport for the miles of lovely beaches, boulder-strewn paths through woods and glades, and that uncommonly magical light that has inspired painters since Winslow Homer. In the afternoon we will take a scenic walk through Rockport, seeing for ourselves what drew so many artists to this part of New England.

Dinner: Dinners in Rockport

Evening: Tonight's evening program is a history lesson on Cape Ann and the surrounding area.

Lodging: Rockport Inn & Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Enjoy a walk in the quaint seaside village of Manchester-by-the-Sea. First settled in 1629, the community thrived as a fishing community until 1845, when Richard Dana, a Boston based poet, built his summer house in the community. The town was founded as "Jeffery's Creek." However, in the mid-1800s, there were enough other Manchesters in New England that locals began following the lead of railroad conductors and referring to the town as "Manchester-by-the-Sea". Your walking tour will include a visit to Singing Beach, so named because the sand comprising the beach squeaks when walked upon.

Lunch: Lunch in Manchester-by-the-Sea

Afternoon: Free afternoon

Dinner: Dinner is not included this evening, but your Program Leader can make some wonderful recommendations in the area.

Evening: Enjoy a free evening.

Lodging: Rockport Inn & Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Enjoy a walking tour of Ipswich, a tour of the Whipple & Heard Houses. In the afternoon, visit Ipswich's Crane Estate and Crane Beach.

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel

Morning: Today we enter the world of 17th century colonial America. We take a guided walking tour of the historic center of Ipswich, which boasts more 17th century houses than any town in the U.S. Ipswich has 58 houses from the First Period -- built prior to 1725.. On our walk we learn why Ipswich considers itself the "Birthplace of American Independence" and how Puritan Ipswich contributed significantly to the founding of our nation. After your morning walk, you will enjoy enjoy guided tour of two historic houses, the Whipple House and the Heard House. The Whipple House was built by Puritan John Whipple in 1677 and is considered today to be one of the most important examples of First Period American architecture. Our guide brings to life what life in the 17th century was really like. The Heard House is a stately Georgian mansion, built around 1800, and is a good example of a wealthy sea captain’s home during the lucrative China Trade period. The house contains an outstanding collection of items brought home by the Heards on their many voyages to Asia. It also has the largest collection in existence of works of art by Arthur Wesley Dow, Ipswich’s famous American Impressionist and teacher of George O’Keefe.

Lunch: Lunch in Ipswich

Afternoon: This afternoon, we take a nature walk with an ecologist on Ipswich’s beautiful Crane Beach, a four and a half mile stretch of sandy barrier beach with dunes and beach animal and plant life. High on a hill looking out over Ipswich Bay stands the majestic 59 room Crane mansion, built in the 1920s as the summer home of Chicago plumbing magnate Richard Crane. We end the day with a lovely house tour of the mansion.

Dinner: Farewell Dinner

Evening: Tonight’s final evening program is an entertaining talk on Tales of Shipwrecks.

Lodging: Rockport Inn & Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Breakfast at the hotel.

Morning: Enjoy an invigorating walk along the ocean boulevard, stopping to see the Fisherman’s Wives statue and the most famous statue in the country, The Man at the Wheel. Walk along the busy harbor while learning about the history of the New England fishing industry and today’s crisis in declining fish stocks. See the setting for the movie The Perfect Storm and the boat that was used to represent the Andrea Gail. Arrive at a true hidden gem of local art culture, the Cape Ann Historical Museum. We’ll take a guided tour through the museum to see its excellent collections of fisheries and maritime, paintings, and decorative arts. Take the train back to Rockport for lunch and the end of the program.

Lunch: Farewell lunch followed by departure at 1:00 p.m.

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch