Posted on October 24, 2013 by Jenny ONeill
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” Born in 1914 and still going strong, Elvira Smith reflects on her childhood and what it was like growing up on a Westport Farm located on Horseneck Road, down a long lane. Growing up on a farm was a lot of hard work […]
Continue ReadingPosted on April 2, 2012 by Jenny ONeill
Marjorie Robb (1889-1992) was a survivor of the Titanic disaster. She lived at Westport Point. In 1986 she spoke about her experience. This recording can be heard here. The quality of the original recording is poor and is best heard with the volume on a high setting. http://chirb.it/BegEh7 Poor sound quality:
Continue ReadingPosted on September 24, 2010 by Jenny ONeill
This project was supported by Community Preservation Act funds granted by Westport Community Preservation Committee http://www.westport-ma.com/cpc/index.html Project work completed by Christa M. Beranek and Katharine M. Johnson Fiske Center for Archaeological Research, University of Massachusetts Boston Introduction The Waite-Kirby-Potter House has long been considered important as one of Westport’s oldest buildings, and it is depicted […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 16, 2010 by Jenny ONeill
Temperance – the campaign to curtail the consumption of alcohol – was an important reform movement in the 19th century. Westport had a number of active temperance groups, and one of the most effective and controversial was the Washingtonians, who shot to prominence in 1840, only to be crowded out by competing abstinence groups by […]
Continue ReadingPosted on April 8, 2010 by Jenny ONeill
This letter appeared in the March 2 1863 edition of New Bedford Evening Standard.
Continue ReadingPosted on December 16, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
A Self-Made Man, Capt. Paul Cuffee. This small pamphlet was written by the great grandson of Paul Cuffe to mark the dediciation of a monument to Paul Cuffe on June 15th 1913 at the Quaker meeting house in Westport. Available as PDF here. Download file
Continue ReadingPosted on November 5, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
Exploring Paul Cuffe: The Man and his Legacy A Public Symposium Saturday October 3, 2009 Opening keynote by Lamont Thomas Lamont Thomas is the author of “Rise to be a People: A Biography of Paul Cuffe” Local Relationships and Cuffe Paul Cuffe’s Social Networks and Entrepreneurial Success by Marion Kilson Marion Kilson, scholar, Museum of […]
Continue ReadingPosted on January 8, 2009 by Jenny ONeill
Even by Westport’s standards, Cadman’s Neck is off the beaten track. This small promontory of land edging into the east branch of Westport River is easily bypassed on Hix Bridge Road. However, what is now a secluded community was once a hub of activity, a place where thousands of people would gather to participate in […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 14, 2005 by Bill Wyatt
Bruce White Most accounts of cotton manufacturing in New England describe a progression from the small rural water-powered cotton-spinning operations, through the larger company town enterprises that extended the spinning of yarn to the manufacture of cloth, to the fully industrialized steam-powered factories of the latter part of the nineteenth century. Despite this trend, however, […]
Continue ReadingPosted on February 23, 2005 by Bill Wyatt
Someone left a clipping from the Personals section of a paper
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