Essex, Massachusetts sits at the edge of the Great Marsh, one of the largest salt marshes on the Atlantic seaboard, and the landscape shapes everything about what there is to do here. The Essex River winds through the town from Chebacco Lake to Essex Bay and the Atlantic, and getting out on it is one of the best things you can do on Cape Ann.

Essex River Cruises and Charters has been running narrated sightseeing cruises, specialty trips, and tidal beach clambakes from the marina for over 20 years. Cape Ann SUP and Surf, headquartered in Essex since 2010, offers paddleboard lessons, guided tours of the salt marsh, SUP yoga, and surfing, with free board delivery anywhere on Cape Ann.

On land, Essex’s history is both deep and accessible. The Essex Historical Society and Shipbuilding Museum tells the story of a town that built more wooden fishing schooners than anywhere else in America, with a working shipyard, the 1927 schooner Evelina M. Goulart, and over 10,000 objects in its collection spread across two sites on Main Street.

Cogswell’s Grant, a Historic New England property on Spring Street, is a 1728 farmhouse filled with an extraordinary collection of American folk art assembled by collectors Bertram and Nina Fletcher Little over nearly six decades. The free Historic Essex Walking Tour connects 16 historic sites along a one-mile route through the town, with a 1797 Paul Revere bell, the site of the notorious grave robberies of 1818, and the birthplace of the fried clam among its stops.

For walkers and nature lovers, Stavros Reservation offers a short climb to panoramic views of Crane Beach and the river estuary from the top of White’s Hill, while the Allyn Cox Reservation on Route 133 provides easy marsh and meadow trails managed by the Essex County Greenbelt Association, which has conserved nearly 18,000 acres across the region.

Cape Ann Golf Club on John Wise Avenue rounds things out with a well-regarded public 18-hole course open to all, with the Fairway Pub on site for non-golfers.

Essex is 45 minutes north of Boston, and the river, the marsh, and the history are there whenever you are.