One beach in Gloucester, Massachusetts, has an island packed with history for sale that anyone can walk to at low tide.
Salt Island, which is just north of Good Harbor Beach, is being sold by Cabot & Company for $750,000. The 5-acre island can be accessed by a sandbar during low tide and is a popular exploration spot for tourists.
The island was purchased by a local family in 1959 after being used as the center of a lobster business.
The family of Joseph Parsons had used the island for lobstering starting in 1850. Guy Parsons had used one of the shacks as a summer home in the 1940s, and became known as the Hermit of Salt Island.
Most of the lobster shacks were gone by the 1950s.
In 1919, Salt Island was used for a Fox Films production titled "Bride 13," a 15-part tale of kidnapping, piracy and deception. A castle was built on the island for an explosive final scene, but a tornado destroyed it and another castle had to be built by the crew.
The silent film was lost to history, and only a few photos remain.
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The History of Salt Island in Gloucester
How did Salt Island get its name? Most believe the name came after an English ship stored 170 hogsheads of bay salt and other supplies on the island. The buildings were later broken into and all of the salt disappeared.
Real estate broker Eric Shabshelowitz from Cabot & Company gave NBC Boston a tour of the island as potential buyers line up to grab a piece of Massachusetts history.
