The Evolution of Spiritual Communities Walking Tour

Learn about the histories and complex relationships among the spiritual communities that evolved in Gloucester over its 400-year history on this tour to eight places of worship (or their former locations). From the time of the earliest English settlers, the church was the center of community life, yet for nearly two hundred years there was only one denomination to choose from: Congregational. In a very short period of time, as immigration patterns shifted in the 19th century, choices blossomed as people of many different religious preferences—among them Universalists, Unitarians, Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and Jews—established themselves on Cape Ann.