Lanes Cove Pier Co.

A major seawall protecting the harbor at Lanesville was begun in 1828 with the formation of the Lane’s Cove Pier Co. Lane’s Cove Pier Company in 1843 improved the harbor at Lanesville with the completion of a new seawall, which was intended principally for the benefit of the granite industry, and only secondarily for the fishing industry.

Concurrent with its building of the new seawall, the Lane’s Cove Pier Company in 1844 agreed to maintain a road to the east of the existing fish houses, leaving the buildings and their flake rights undisturbed. By the 1860 directory, a significant number of Lanesville residents were still engaged in such maritime-related occupations as fisherman, fish dealer, trader, “sloopman,” and coaster. Around the same time, a wide variety of merchandise-from food and drink to building materials, grindstones, and sail duck was being unloaded at Lane’s Cove, demonstrating its importance as a commercial center. Lanesville’s maritime-related industries included the packaging of boneless fish; rendering of cod liver oil for use in medicines; extraction of hake air bladders for use in glue making; and the rendering of pogy oil for use in leather tanning and in paint manufacturing (Erkkila: 18-19). While Lanesville’s maritime industry was notable during this period, it was not the dominant economic force. The intense and distinctive development of the village during this period (commercial, institutional, and residential) was primarily due to the growth of the granite quarries nearby.

United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places

Multiple Property Submission Historic and Archaeological Resources of F PS Gloucester (Essex County) Section number __E_ Page _25__ Massachusetts