Swampscott Stories

Lobsters vs. Cod: Fish Tales from the Fish House Continues

The Swampscott Yacht Club will host its next free community lecture on Jan. 23 when a Northeastern University professor talks about the interaction between two treasured marine species.

  This article was submitted by Anne Driscoll. The Swampscott Yacht Club is hosting its next Fish Tales from the Fish House lecture entitled “Lobsters vs. Cod” by Jon Grabowski, a professor and researcher from the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University in Nahant. Grabowski will give a public talk on January 23 at 7 p.m. at the Fish House in Swampscott about two of the most treasured seafood species of coastal Massachusetts and Maine and their interactions with each other. This is the fifth community lecture since Fish Tales from the Fish House lecture series was launched on May 2 with its inaugural talk and video given on May 2 by Richard Patch, a longtime fisherman who has been lobstering from Swampscott for 40 years. The …

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Swampscott Stories

Art Program For New Generation of Beach Painters

On July 14, the Swampscott Yacht Club will host its Fish Tales from the Fish House Plein Air Art Program taught by artist Anita Balliro.

  This article was submitted by Anne Driscoll The Swampscott Yacht Club is hosting a Beach Painter Plein Air Art Program as the third Fish Tales from the Fish House community lecture series on Saturday, July 14 at 10 a.m. at Fisherman’s Beach. Anita Balliro, an art teacher at Swampscott High School, will host the program in which the public is invited to come paint on the beach in the tradition of the Swampscott/Lynn Beach Painters of the 19th century. The outdoor painting program is a follow up to a Fish Tales from the Fish House lecture that Anita Balliro gave about the Swampscott/Lynn Beach Painters on Wednesday, June 6 at 7 p.m. Both programs are being co-sponsored by ARTS (Arts Resources for the Town of Swampscott), a non-profit whose…

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Swampscott Stories

A Day in the Life of A Lobsterman

Richard Patch has been hauling traps in Swampscott for 40 years. On Wednesday he shared some of his lobstering tales in the Fish Tales from the Fish House lecture series.

  The longtime lobsterman hauls more than crustaceans from his 250 traps and pulled plenty of questions from his audience Wednesday at the Fish House. Richard Patch launched the Swampscott Yacht Club’s Fish Tales From the Fish House lecture series with his day-in-the-life account of a lobsterman. Richard’s day starts at 5:30 am at Fisherman’s Beach, a nice and peaceful time when you see more herring gulls than people. He suspects that’s the attraction for him and fellow lobsterman. He's been lobstering 40 years. Before that, as a high school kid, he fished the Saugus River.  “It’s always been in me,” he said. Richard held the floor in the cozy light of the Fish House lounge overlooking the harbor. Bottles and ice clanked and rustled at the…

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Swampscott Stories

Fish Tales to Launch Fish House Series

The first in a series of planned lectures on Swampscott's rich history.

  The Swampscott Yacht Club is launching a community lecture series called “Fish Tales from the Fish House” with its inaugural talk and video on May 2 at 7 p.m. by Richard Patch, a longtime fisherman who has been lobstering from Swampscott for 40 years. The talk and video will be held at the Fish House at 425 Humphrey St. The event is free and open to the public but reservations are requested. A cash bar will also be available. For more information and to make your reservation, call 781.962.5587. “There are many colorful stories to be told about Swampscott’s past and present and we thought Richard was a perfect choice to start off what we hope will be a new community lecture tradition in Swampscott,” said Steve Speranza, Swampscott Yacht …

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Musings: A Column on Local Culture

On the Sunny Side of the Street

Mother and son design team run growing business.

  With its cheerful bright colors and streamlined images, it’s always summer in a design from Graphics by J&J. And, once you know their style, their work is instantly recognizable. Their picture of the entrance to Swampscott as you drive in along Lynn Shore is a good example. A line of fencing draws your eye into town, the rocks in front of Red Rock Bistro greet you, and the steeple of St. John’s draws your eye to a bright blue sky. The J&J are Janice and Jim Cohen, a Swampscott mother and son team who have been in business since 2004. Calling their efforts a true “collaboration,” all their designs are original artwork, which are printed in Salem onto note cards, posters and calendars, as well as custom items. With their business expanding…

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Fish House Drains Get Updated

Work on the Fish House drainage system is slated to start today or tomorrow, the public works director said.

Drainage improvements at the Fish House are slated to start this week. Irvine & Sons plumbing company of Lynn will install a new main drain line around the building, said Public Works Director Gino Cresta. In addition, the plumbers will connect laterals to the dozen or so Fish House lockers. Laterals are separate drain lines that connect the lockers to the main line, the director said. This first phase of the project costs $22,000, Cresta said. The second phase, expected to be completed over the winter, calls for removing individual drains in each of the fish lockers, installing new drains and connecting them to the laterals. Fishermen and others use the lockers to clean their catch, store supplies and tools and other uses. For the past …

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Then and Now

Historical Photo: Then and Now Asked What

Then and Now asked for what purpose were those two small roofed structures to the left used? We have co-winners.

Then and Now asked for what purpose were those two pavilions to the left used? The photograph of the Fish House was taken in 1910. Paul Sherry was first to reply with an answer that included one of the likely uses of those pavilions — to picnic. And David Gustavsen followed with a more general or complete answer — "They were cover from the sun & rain for the people sitting on the benches." We call this one a tie and will award gift cards to both Paul and David. We'll also keep the Then and Now feature going by posting another photograph of a historic house, person or location on the following Saturday. The photograph was courtesy of the Swampscott Historical Society.

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Zoning Board Votes It Has No Jurisdiction to Revoke Fish House Porch Permit

Neighbors oppose Yacht Club Adding Porch to Historic Building

A group opposed to the porch at the back of the Fish House learned last week that they would have to wait to press their case with the Zoning Board of Appeals. The Friends of the Fish House want the building permit revoked for the completed second-floor porch at the historic Swampscott Yacht Club on Humphrey Street. The Yacht Club, which uses the second floor of the Fish House, has finished building the porch, which is an extension to the building. The porch is 25 feet long and eight feet wide. The oceanside, exterior wall was moved four feet back to widen the porch. To the chagrin of many neighbors of the Fish House in the audience at the Aug. 24 meeting, the zoning board voted four to one that it did not have jurisdiction to consider the…

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Sea Notes: A Column on the Swampscott Waterfront

Fish House Porch and Cap'n Jack's go to ZBA

Porch opponents are scheduled to take their fight to the ZBA on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, a petition filed by Lawrence Bithell will ask the Zoning Board of Appeals to revoke the building permit for the Yacht Club porch at the historic Fish House. Representing Bithell and other opponents of the porch is lawyer Kenneth Shutzer of Lynn. He says the town building inspector approved porch plans that differ from plans that selectmen approved last year. Shutzer made this argument before the Conservation Commission last week but the members said the project is less intrusive than the original plan. The members expected to grant the porch a certificate of occupancy, pending the results of a site visit. The Commission meeting, however, drew many people who oppose the porch being added to a structure that was built in 1896. …

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Sea Notes: Stories on the Swampscott Waterfront

Fish House Porch Packs Conservation Commission Meeting

A standing room crowd came to Wednesday's conservation meeting, as the committee gets ready to sign a certificate of occupancy for the controversial porch addition to the historic Fish House.

The temperature rose and tempers flared at Wednesday’s crowded Conservation Commission meeting where the board received revised plans for the previously approved Fish House porch. In the end, commission members scheduled a Saturday-morning site visit to the Fish House before they sign a certificate of occupancy for the newly constructed porch. First, though, a lawyer who represents residents who oppose the porch, raised a raft of complaints about the Swampscott Yacht Club’s second-floor structure at Wednesday’s commission meeting. Lawyer Kenneth Shutzer said porch construction differs markedly from plans filed with the Building Department. He also said abutters were not given timely notice about the project when the Yacht Club filed its …

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