No Ordinary Red Shack ("The Motif," Barbara Brewer) Not every red fisherman's shack becomes a star. But the Motif No. 1 on Bradley Wharf in Rockport has for years been one of the most famous sites on Cape Ann, portrayed on hundreds of canvases, photographed and visitedby tourists from all over the world. The Motif was erected shortly after Rockport was incorporated as a town in 1840. When the railroad was extended to Rockport in the mid-1800s, artists discovered the town and the Motif and began immortalizing both with their paintings. The late artist, Lester Hornby, has been cedited with giving the Motif its name. According to one story about the naming, Hornby met and art professor in Paris who said the most popular scene painted by art students there was called "Motif No. 1." When he returned to Rockport, Hornby noticed how often the shack was the subject for paintings -- and a legend was born. The Motif's fame grew, and at one point became an artist's studio when the late John Buckley worked out of it in the 1930s. He sold it to the town in 1945, when it was dedicated, according to a Times story, "to the fishermen and artists of Rockport." Electric wires were then removed from the shack to enhance its beauty and an advisory group was set up to oversee the maintenance of the shack, which included painting it regularly with a special red paint to keep it's "weather-beaten" look. When the shack collapsed in the February storm on 1978, the townspeople banded together to raise money to re-build the landmark. They were successful, for the Motif was rebuilt later that year and stands again on Bradley Wharf. And Rockport would not be the same, for residents or tourists, without this symbol of Cape Ann's fishing tradition. CLOSE >>