The name “Gloucester” first pops up in official records in the 1640s. Before that, explorer John Smith rather fancifully called the area “Tragabigzanda.” Earlier yet, in 1606, one of the first maps of the region used the name “le Beau port,” French for “the beautiful harbor.” And well before any Europeans named the land, indigenous peoples lived here for thousands of years, using their own language to describe the places and terrain.
It is that history—all of it—that is being honored and celebrated this year, as Gloucester undertakes a yearlong observation of the 400th
