Earliest in its settlement, the area now known as Dogtown was once the Commons and populated by settlers on Cape Ann who preferred the relative safety of the boulder-strewn highlands to the coast and its vulnerability to pirates and weather. By the Revolution, most of those who could had migrated to the coast, where the sea provided a better living than the difficult terrain best left to sheep. The land was deforested, Gloucester had become a renowned port, and the small village was left to those who were on the fringes of society, mainly women. Independent, doing whatever needed to be done to keep body and soul together, it was inevitable that the women, many of whom were widows of soldiers who had fought in both the Revolution and the War of 1812, came to be regarded as mad, cunning, harlots, and, of course, witches. The dying village became pejoratively known as Dogtown, as the widows were known for keeping dogs. No one has kept a record of what these dogs looked like or were called, only that they were the widows’ protectors and companions—their familiars.