North Shore of Massachusetts may be understood as the entire Atlantic coast of Massachusetts from Boston to the border of New Hampshire. The North Shore encompasses Cape Ann and Essex County. Municipalities include Beverly, Danvers, Essex, Gloucester, Hamilton, Ipswich, Manchester, Marblehead, Middleton, Nahant, Peabody, Rockport, Salem, Swampscott, Topsfield, and Wenham.
The maritime history and Yankee culture of the North Shore is long and rich. Gloucester was America’s first fishing community of European heritage. The 17th century witch trials made Salem infamous, and a century later Salem emerged as a whaling and shipping center that resulted on one of the greatest flowerings of American architecture and decorative arts. America’s first ironworks developed in Saugus; Lynn was center of the American shoe industry; and Peabody boasted the largest concentration of leather tanneries in the world. The title Birthplace of the American Navy is claimed by both Marblehead and Beverly.
The National Geographic Society assigned Nathan Benn to photograph the North Shore of Massachusetts in June 1978. Most of the time Nathan lived in a Gloucester Harbor cottage with the same view of Ten Pound Island that is immortalized in paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane. National Geographic published the North Shore story over 22 pages in the April 1979 issue of National Geographic Magazine. The author was Randall S. Peffer, a professor of English literature at Phillips Andover Academy.
Technical Notes: Nathan used Leica M4 and Nikon F cameras with Kodachrome and Ektachrome 35mm film. Between June and November 1978 Nathan shot 286 rolls of film, almost all by available light.
