We began at the Saugus Ironworks National Historical Park, located on the restored property of the nation's first industrial and, for the time, "high tech" iron factory. The Massachusetts Bay Colony, only 11 years old at the time, contracted the ironwork's construction as a means of becoming a self-supporting economy. Up until the completion of the blast furnace, forge and smithy in the early 1640s, the colony was completely dependent upon English imports for tools, blades, pots, pans, barrel bands, even nails. By 1646, the ironworks was producing enough goods to supply Massachusetts and export to England! As our ranger guide said today, the works' technology was leaps ahead of the old methods and referred to it as the space shuttle of its day. Water wheels were used to power all of the various machines, and Scottish prisoners of war supplied much of the labor. Not sure how the Massachusetts Colony Puritans justified that aspect...and we forgot to ask.
The ironworks required tremendous amounts of raw resources to operate (including 20 cords of wood per day, approximately one acre of heavy forest), which in turn meant a large and often difficult workforce to manage. Thus, the "cheap" Scottish prisoners. Despite that cost-saving measure, the Saugus operation ran into financial difficulties within 10 years, leading to its eventual demise. The last recorded firing of the blast furnace was in 1668. But the influence of the Saugus Ironworks was lasting; its technology and self-supported industry was imitated throughout the New World, launching the colonies' pull away from Britain.
Next stop, Salem and its Maritime National Historical Park. The park's pride and joy is The Friendship, a tall-masted ship that's a replica of the trade ships that plied the waters from Salem to all parts of the world in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. In fact, so many ships were based in Salem that many foreign ports mistakenly believed it to be an independent country. And just as the ironworks' technology led to an industrial independence from Britain, so too did the financial gains based in Salem's shipping and trade industry.
In the years immediately following the American Revolution, Salem was known as the Venice of the New World because of its extensive imports of luxury goods from places as far away as China and the East Indies. By 1790, it was probably the richest American city per capita. Much of its wealth had been established in the years leading up to the War of Independence, when fishermen and coastal traders modified their boats with guns and attacked the English ships sent to supply the British army. They disrupted British communications, claimed the cargo and traded it for huge profit on the world market. Those same Salem captains and ship owners provided much of the financial backing for the Revolution.
As we prepare to visit the nation-birthing places of Boston and Philadelphia in the next few weeks, it's incredible to see the influence Saugus and Salem had in fostering the dream of an independent America. Tomorrow, we'll change the pace a little and seek out some lighthouses on the New Hampshire and southern Maine coastline. And, if we're lucky, there'll be a lobster roll in the mix.
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| The restored ironworks structures; below, the bellows of the blast furnace |
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| The timing of our visit to Saugus was superb; we happened to be there on the one day this month that they had a pouring demonstration. The girls had fun carving their names (backwards) and drawings into a sand mold. The portable furnace was loaded with coal and iron (pieces of an old radiator), and the molten iron was poured into the molds. We now have wonderful (and very heavy) keepsakes of our visit. |
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| The Friendship and the Salem bay (below) |
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