According to Rockport Sketch Book author John L. Cooley, illustrator, painter, printmaker, and etcher Lester Hornby (1882-1956) spent winters teaching art in Paris, and summers teaching art in Rockport. Time and time again, when told to paint or sketch an inanimate object, his students chose the red fishing shack at the end of Bradly Wharf. At some point, after seeing hundreds of renderings of the shack, his saturation point was reached. The unsuspecting student presented his drawing of the popular building only to be met with an incredulous “What? Motif Number 1 again??”

Motif Number 1, as a moniker for the post-Civil War building, stuck and when the building all but disappeared in the wake of the Blizzard of ’78, some wished it to stay away forever. But those with “No more Motif No. 1!” bumper stickers were overruled, and the oft-depicted structure was rebuilt. Motif No. 1 (the second), now a long-established icon whose replica won first prize in the American Legion Convention parade held in Chicago in 1933, even came to represent the entire state of Massachusetts for the U.S. Postal Service’s “Greetings from America” series in 2002.

Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. See it for yourself—sketchpad and camera optional.

Photograph by Claire Enterline