Rockport Ice Cream – 6 Great Ice Cream Shops Near Rockport MA
The Perfect Places To Get Your Creamy Fix
There are so many incredible desserts to choose from but if we had to choose just one dessert to have for the rest of our lives it would be ice cream, hands down.
There are three reasons for this bold proclamation: First, it’s an instant flashback to childhood memories at local New England ice cream stands. Second, it’s primarily consumed in Summer, the best season of the year. And third, it is open to unlimited creative interpretations, so it never gets old!
In this article we will take a closer look at Rockport Ice Cream and some of our favorite Ice Cream shops on Massachusetts’ Cape Ann.
Rockport Massachusetts has to be in the running for one of the most photogenic towns in New England and the Ice Cream Store is one of the most photogenic store fronts in the town.
Located near the entrance of Bearskin Neck, the Ice Cream Store is a small, shingled shop with a welcoming red door that matches its vintage wooden sign.
The Ice Cream Store overlooks White Wharf and the back harbor and has some adorable waterside seating that is the perfect spot to kick back and enjoy a tasty cone.
The ice cream is premium and creamy and there is a great variety including Classic Sundaes, Brownie Sundaes, Frappes, Shaved Ice, Rickeys, and much more!
The store is open later into the evening and is really the perfect place to unwind on a warm summer evening. There is something so romantic about an ice cream cone on Bearskin Neck on a calm evening as the hot summer day fades into a warm summer night.
The Ice Cream Store
14 Bearskin Neck
Rockport, MA 01966
https://www.rockporticecream.com/the-ice-cream-store
Just across the street from The Ice Cream Store, on Bearskin Neck, Sunday’s Ice Cream is another adorable Rockport Ice Cream Shop complete with shingles and a pink door that serves up some tasty treats for locals and tourists alike.
Sundays has a fantastic variety of frozen treats to cool you down on a hot day including Sundaes, Frappes, Root Beer Floats, and, one of our favorites, Banana Splits. Sundays has super premium ice cream and an excellent variety of flavors with everything from Maple Walnut to Lobster Tracks.
Our favorite part of Sundays though is the beautiful seating area back behind the shop that overlooks Rockport Harbor. Open to customers only, you can sit back and enjoy your cone while overlooking Rockport Harbor and Motif #1. It is like your own private oasis in downtown Rockport.
Sundays Ice Cream
3 Bearskin Neck
Rockport, MA 01966
https://www.facebook.com/Sundays-Ice-Cream-Shop-136393363109696/
“If I could eat whatever I wanted every day, I would have Domino’s pizza with pasta carbonara inside every slice. And at night, I would have Neapolitan ice cream until I felt absolutely toxic. And then I would drift off telling myself, ‘It’s going to be O.K… It’s going to be O.K. you’re going to train in the morning.” – Robert Downey, Jr.
This place is a Gloucester treasure. Located just down the road from Long Beach, stepping into line at the Long Beach Dairy Maid is like stepping back in time.
On summer weekends the line can stretch across the parking lot, and we half expect to see characters from Dazed and Confused roll up in Chevelles and GTO’s, rockin’ Bobby Weir cutoffs, to grab a monster cone and get their loiter on. Oh yeah, the portions here are incredible. A small is essentially a large so bring your appetite!
The selection is also second to none. They have a wide variety of premium hard ice cream, soft serve, root beer floats, and a great selection of creative flavors. One of our favorites is their campfire s’mores. So good! https://www.longbeachdairy.com/index.php?link=menu
In addition to delicious ice cream, soft serve, and sorbet, the Long Beach Dairy Maid is attached to Surfside Subs which has a nice variety of subs (go figure) and some fantastic pizza which we think is some of the best on Cape Ann. They are also famous for their tasty and reasonably priced lobster rolls which you can get on a toasted bun (discount deals on Tuesdays).
Long Beach Dairy Maid
147 Thatcher Road
Gloucester, MA 01930
https://www.longbeachdairy.com/
When it comes to creativity and pure flavor Holy Cow delivers! These mad scientists churn out incredible flavors like Egg Nog, Cereal Milk, Cold Brew Oreo, Cinnamon Churro Dough, Samoa and many many more creative concoctions.
We think Holy Cow is what would have been created if Ben, Jerry & Christina Tosi met up on the North Shore of Massachusetts to develop an ice cream brand.
The ice cream oozes nostalgia and will take you back to childhood memories of indulging in Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes on a Saturday morning watching cartoons. Ahhhh, in the words of Archie & Edith, those were the days!
At Holy Cow you can get ice cream in cones, cups, or sandwich form but we prefer to grab a pint or two for the road to throw in the freezer for later.
Holy Cow Ice Cream
80 Pleasant Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
https://www.holycowicecreamcafe.com/
“Life is like an ice cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time.”
– Charles M. Schultz
Another fantastic ice cream shop on Cape Ann is Carl’s Cones located right on Washington Street in Gloucester.
Fulfilling a childhood dream, Carlos Goulart and his wife Courtney opened Carl’s Cones back in 2020. A family affair, their daughter Carlie is the manager.
One thing we love about Carl’s is that it is open year-round. It seems that some ice cream fans only stick around for the fair weather. True New Englanders know that ice cream, like Dunkin’ iced coffee, should be enjoyed all year round!
Carl’s serves a great variety of both hard and soft serve ice cream. Their ice cream is from Richardson’s which makes their award-winning ice cream right down the road in Middleton, Massachusetts. Trust us, the ice cream from Richardson’s is second to none.
With flavors like Rocky Road, Cotton Candy, Phantom Berry (a personal favorite), Crunch A Saurus, and Peanut Butter Oreo, there is no shortage of incredible flavors to indulge in. Carl’s also has some delicious Frozen Yogurt flavors and a variety of toppings like Snickers, Kit Kat, Cheese Cake and Oreo.
Carl’s Cones
185 Washington Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
https://www.carlscones.com/
A little bit further down Rockport’s Bearskin Neck you’ll find Rockin’ Cupcakes. Now, with a name like Rockin’ Cupcakes you’re probably thinking this is a bakery and not an ice cream shop, but we assure you that we are not wasting your time (at least not intentionally).
Rockin’ Cupcakes does have some incredible cupcakes that are delicious, beautiful, and creatively concocted. That’s why they made the list of our favorite Cape Ann bakeries!
In addition to their tempting cupcakes, they also serve some delicious ice cream made right here in New England at Gifford’s. If you cannot decide between cupcakes and ice cream you can also combine the two with a cupcake sundae that pretty wild and very tasty!
Rockin’ Cupcakes
42 Bearskin Neck
Rockport, MA 01966
https://www.facebook.com/RockinCupcakes1/
We hope that you enjoyed our Rockport Ice Cream list. We think that these are some incredible spots to enjoy right in the Rockport area. But if you’re up for venturing a little further a few other spots we love are Captain Dusty’s (locations in both Manchester and Beverly), Cherry Farm (located in Danvers) and the Village Creamery in Essex.
