SEA GLASS HOUSE: TRANQUIL SEASIDE RETREAT OR BASE FOR ADVENTURE

Wake up and take your coffee on the porch, stroll out the door to drop a postcard at the post office, walk another block to Front Beach to watch terns and plovers wheel overhead as the sun rises over Sandy Bay and you gather colorful bits of 200-year old sea glass and crockery. Later, amble along Main Street to the shops and restaurants of Dock Square and Bearskin Neck and watch the lobster boats depart from Tuna Wharf for the catch you will eat later that night. If you want more vigorous activity, rent a kayak and paddle out to Thatcher Island to visit the Twin Lights, one of the few double lighthouses still in operation and a national landmark; or go hiking along the massive granite outcroppings at Halibut Point State Park, where the sea spray and breeze freshen even the hottest summer day.

If its action you want, your hosts can lead you into hundreds of acres of extreme single track mountain biking trails in Dogtown, the vast and rocky woodlands that contain the remnants of the original settlement of Gloucester from the early 1600s; point you to the best spots for surfing the waves of Long Beach in Rockport or Good Harbor Beach in Gloucester, or to the rocky bays and coves along the coastline that are renowned among scuba divers in New England for their clarity and accessibility. There is even a tidal rip at nearby Goose Cove for playboating for whitewater paddlers.