Visit Essex, MA

Essex, Massachusetts sits at the heart of Cape Ann, thirty miles north of Boston on the North Shore coast. It’s a small town with an outsized story: the birthplace of the American fishing schooner, home to one of the great concentrations of antique dealers in New England, and the place where the fried clam was invented in 1914. The Essex River winds through the Great Marsh, one of the largest salt marshes on the Atlantic seaboard, and the town’s Main Street has been drawing visitors for generations.

What those visitors find tends to surprise them. Fifteen places to eat and drink, ranging from iconic seafood shacks to a waterfront fine dining room open year-round. A dining scene that has quietly accumulated more awards, more Food Network appearances, and more devoted regulars than a town this size has any right to. Antique galleries that supply collectors, museums, and interior designers across the country. Independent shops, a working farm stand, a jewelry studio that ships its handmade pieces worldwide from a 1740 building on Main Street.

This site exists to make it easier to find all of it. Visit Essex MA is curated and maintained by the Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum, the community institution at 66 Main Street that has been preserving Essex’s history, supporting its environment, and serving its residents since 1976.

We know this town well, and we want you to too.