Rockport.

Out at the very tip of Cape Ann, Rockport is where the North Shore runs out of land and hands itself over to the Atlantic. It is a town of granite ledges and working wharves, of galleries tucked into old fish shacks along Bearskin Neck, and of the little red boathouse on Bradley Wharf — Motif No. 1 — that generations of painters have turned into one of the most recognized buildings in American art. Roughly 7,000 people live here year-round, and while summer brings a steady stream of visitors, the community that remains after the season winds down is close-knit, civic-minded, and fiercely proud of its village.

The housing stock reads like a walking tour of the town's past: antique capes and colonials in the village center, shingled cottages clustered near the beaches, former quarry workers' homes up in Pigeon Cove, and a run of dramatic ocean-view and oceanfront properties along the headlands. Rockport is essentially built out, and owners tend to stay for decades, so inventory is perennially thin — well-priced homes here attract serious, often competitive interest from buyers seeking a coastal lifestyle within reach of Boston.

For a place that feels a world apart, the commute is more workable than you might expect. Rockport is the namesake terminus of the MBTA Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line, offering a one-seat ride down the North Shore to Boston's North Station, and the Cape Ann Transportation Authority (CATA) runs local bus service around the cape. Drivers follow Route 127 or 127A — the only roads in and out — to pick up Route 128 in neighboring Gloucester for highway connections to the rest of Greater Boston.

Culturally, Rockport punches far above its size. Rockport Music's Shalin Liu Performance Center brings world-class chamber music, jazz, and folk to a concert hall with the ocean as its backdrop; the Rockport Art Association & Museum anchors one of the country's oldest working art colonies; and the town's beaches, harbors, and quarry-edged shoreline offer the kind of everyday scenery most people only get on vacation.

Rockport Public Schools is one of the smallest districts on the North Shore, and many families consider that its greatest strength. The district operates two schools: Rockport Elementary School, serving the town's youngest learners through grade 5, and Rockport Middle High School, which brings grades 6 through 12 together in a setting where teachers, coaches, and counselors genuinely know every student. Class sizes stay small, and the walk-to-school village layout is a real part of daily life here. Families weighing independent options will find well-regarded private schools a short drive down the cape in Manchester-by-the-Sea and Beverly.

Rockport occupies the outermost tip of Cape Ann, with the Atlantic wrapping around three sides of town and Gloucester as its only land neighbor — every road out of Rockport passes through it. The town lies about 20 miles up the coast from Salem and roughly 35 miles northeast of Boston, with Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex, and Ipswich all an easy drive back down the cape.