In 1737, Capt. Thomas Saunders built a Georgian home for his bride, Judith Robinson, the daughter of the man who created the schooner. The home still stands at 14 East Main St.

In 1764, his son, also named Thomas, built a home that today houses Sawyer Free Library.

The two historic homes are relatively rare - not because they survive from the 18th century but because they still stand where they were built.

In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Gloucester underwent a frenzy of house moving that changed the architectural face of the city. Even current owners of some of the houses that were moved are unaware of that chapter of city history.

The story is now told in a new book about Gloucester's oldest homes written by local preservationist Prudence Paine Fish, called "Antique Houses of Gloucester: The Families Who Built Them, The Mayor Who Moved Them and the Changing Face of the Harbor Village."

Much of the moving was done by two professional house movers who both went on the become mayors of the city, John Parsons and his nephew, Henry Parsons.

"Gloucester was beautiful and it had lovely streets, quaint houses, fences and gardens, and probably more than urban renewal, more than fires, John Parsons changed the face of Gloucester," Fish said.

"They moved everything. Central Gloucester was very residential, all along Main Street. Then fishing took off and commercialization of that area took over. There was pressure to redevelop the harbor around the fishing industry, and one by one the houses got moved and moved until very few were left on Main Street."

Houses were moved in many New England cities and towns but "the scope was far grander in Gloucester," said Fish.

"Gloucester was rearranged. It has changed more drastically than you could possibly imagine. There is hardly a (historic) house that hasn't been greatly altered, moved on its lot, moved across town, and jacked up in the air."

Fish never set out to write the book, her first. The work grew out of nearly three decades of research, sifting through all sorts of records. Even more than a century ago, a permit was needed to move a house.

Fish estimates at least 200 homes were moved between 1873 and the turn of the century alone.

Although Fish grew up in central Massachusetts, she has a lifelong connection to Gloucester and a lifelong affinity for old houses inherited from her mother.

"I've been in Gloucester for summers since I was a child, when the doctor said I had an allergy and I needed the seashore, so I went there every year," Fish said.

She stayed in the house of a family friend, Mary Elizabeth Ahearn, at 1144 Washington St. in Lanesville, built just before the Civil War. Fish would purchase the house after Ahearn's death.

A teacher by profession, Fish changed careers when teaching jobs became fewer in the early 1970s. She went into real estate, specializing in historic houses on the North Shore.

In the 1970s, Fish moved to Newburyport, where she began researching her historic house as well as many others. "The houses and architecture there just blew me away," she said.

After a divorce, she and her three children settled in Gloucester in 1979, moving to the Lanesville house she knew as a child.

"When I came to Gloucester I continued what I had been doing all along, researching houses," said Fish. "From the time I got here, I plunged into the effort. From the city records, I was able to reconstruct the list of houses that had been moved and I went hunting for them."

She poked around the streets and frequented the registries of deeds and probate.

She also became involved in the now-defunct Gloucester Preservation Committee and served on the Gloucester Historic District Commission for about 15 years.

Her research revealed to her why Gloucester - America's oldest seaport - paled in comparison to other cities and towns that showcase New England architecture and houses.

The author presents an evolution of house styles that prevailed in Gloucester beginning with the First Period, which is the era before 1725. She also wrote an overview of the builders and architects she encountered in her research. The book contains sections about houses that remained on original lots; houses that were moved and where they went; and houses that no longer exist.

The book, which has many photos and illustrations, also includes a poem by the late Charles Olson, who decried the moving of a historic house to make room for a YMCA.

Another section deals with myths and old wives' tales about historic homes. So-called Indian shutters, for example, weren't designed to protect against Indian attacks - those were a thing of the distant past by the time the shutters became popular around 1800. The shutters, which fold or slide across windows on the interior of the house were meant for privacy and insulation.

The book also has some advice on preserving and restoring historic homes. Fish's bottom line on changes is simple: "If it can't be reversed, don't do it."

If you go

* What: New book reading and signing for "Antique Houses of Gloucester: The Families Who Built Them, The Mayor Who Moved Them and the Changing Face of the Harbor Village," by Prudence Paine Fish

* Where: The Bookstore of Gloucester at 61 Main St. in Gloucester, 978-281-1548

* When: Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.