08/14/2026
Did you know that this week marks 391 years since one of the most tragic events in Cape Ann’s early history?
The Great Storm of August 1635 churned the seas and battered ships along the New England coast. On August 14–15, disaster struck the Watch and Wait, which sailed from Ipswich for Marblehead. 23 passengers and crew were onboard.
Caught in the violent storm, the vessel was driven onto the rocks off Cape Ann and destroyed. Only Anthony Thacher and his wife survived. Their four children, along with the other passengers and crew, were lost. The couple was cast ashore on the nearby island that would later bear the Thacher name.
More than a century later, in 1771, the twin lighthouses were established on Thacher's Island, creating one of Cape Ann’s most recognizable and historic landmarks.
Image courtesy of Digital Commonwealth.
