Located about 30 miles northeast of Boston, Cape Ann includes the town of Rockport and city of Gloucester. The area was a fishing and shipping port, and became known in the 1830s for its high quality granite; the stone was mainly cut into paving blocks.

Finnish immigrants began to arrive at Cape Ann in large numbers in the 1870s, and worked the granite quarries until the Depression and popularity of concrete doomed the industry. They had an active and thriving community, and between the 1920s and 1940s there were about 5,000 people of Finnish descent living on Cape Ann.

Click here for a story written in 1919 about Finnish immigrants to Cape Ann.

An invitation from Cape Ann Finns

With advanced notice, as possible, CAF members will lead tours of Lanesville and/or Rockport that take in sites related to the Finnish heritage of the area.

Sites may include the Carlson Quarry (painting by local artist Jana Matusz); the stone house nearby at which many arriving Finnish immigrants boarded; the handiwork of Finns who built walls and foundations and even houses of locally-sourced granite; two of the four Finn halls now repurposed; Finn churches, saunas, Finns’ homes and more.
Email: capeannfinns @ gmail.com

Photo gallery at capeannfinns.com

Click the names of the Following sites for more information

Cape Ann Museum

This museum covers the art, history and culture of the area.

Click here for information about the granite quarries, which were worked by Finnish immigrants.

Check out how “The Finnish Effect” is the reason that so many figurative artists were drawn to Cape Ann.

Click here to learn about the Folly Cove Designers, a guild of self-taught artists that worked together from 1938 to 1969. Members of Finnish descent included painter and graphic artist Hilda Kaihlanen.