Dedicated to the preservation of Gloucester’s maritime industrial history, the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center occupies 39,069 square feet overlooking Gloucester Harbor.  The Center features the oldest continuously operating marine railway in the country. Originally called the Burnham Brothers Railway, the first rail was built in 1849 by brothers Parker, Joseph and Elias Burnham, who recognized the need for a facility that could haul boats out of the water for repairs.  A second rail was added in 1856. Originally powered by steam engine, the single rail still in operation today now runs on electricity.

The Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center property also contains a 19th century mill building, which housed the equipment that powers the railway and a former ice house, which has been transformed into a workshop for building wooden boats. The Center’s three wharves are the home of several fishing vessels representing different periods in the evolution of fishing technology.  Through the ongoing development of exhibits and a small aquarium, the Center provides insight into the relationship between the health of the city’s maritime industrial history and the health of the New England fisheries.

The Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center is a grassroots nonprofit organization which got its start in 1999 when nearly three hundred local people joined together to purchase the Harbor Loop site of the Gloucester Marine Railway. The two core components of the Center’s mission are to “to champion the preservation of Gloucester’s maritime industrial history and tradition” and “to serve as a resource for the study of maritime history, industry and ecology.