Posted on November 29, 2016 by Jenny ONeill
Whaling was a dangerous business. On long voyages so many things could go wrong. Men got sick far from land. They fell overboard. Boats were stove by whales. Ships were wrecked, or simply never heard from again. And sometimes, men went to great extremes to survive. The following stories are all true, and all happened […]
Continue ReadingPosted on February 3, 2015 by Jenny ONeill
Our collection includes a bound set of The Non-Slaveholder, a 19th century publication with a special approach to the anti-slavery movement. “Whoso gives the motive, makes his brother’s sin his own.” This caption appears under the title of “The Non-Slaveholder”, a mid-19th century publication dedicated to the anti-slavery movement. The publication focused not only on […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
This research category encompasses a variety of resource types including taverns and guesthouses, recreational facilities, and summer home communities. Broadly defined, these categories are tied together by their function within the Westport community as places where people traveled to and from, either for short periods of time, as would be the case with taverns and […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
Westport’s earliest religious association is closely tied to the Society of Friends, as is that of neighboring Dartmouth. Westport’s earliest settlers were included in the Apponagansett Meeting in Old Dartmouth. As settlement expanded in present-day Westport, the Acoaxet Meeting was established as a separate entity in 1699. Members met in local homes for several years, […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
Westport contains waterpower sources in virtually every section of town. As a result, the historic period development of commercial and industrial sites is closely tied to Westport’s mills. Mills operated throughout the entire historic period, and ranged from simple short-term wheels along seasonal streams to extensive complexes of multiple mill types along major streams and […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
Maritime activities in Westport were necessarily centered around the coastal region, although the deep reaches of the Westport River allowed shipbuilding and other activities to occur well into the central portion of the town. This research category includes shipbuilding as well as offshore activities such as whaling, fishing, and coastal trade that relied on Westport […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
The development of early Westport included the creation of Euro-American farms on large tracts of fertile land in the southern section of town. Following a pattern seen in other coastal New England towns, settlers likely chose lands that had been cleared and cultivated by Native Americans during the Woodland and Contact periods. The reports of […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
African-American residents of Westport played a vital role in the history of the town. The keeping of slaves and indentured servants may have been practiced in the early town, though in general the Society of Friends did not support the slave trade. The prominence of Quaker leaders in Old Dartmouth led to a 1716 debate […]
Continue ReadingPosted on June 28, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
Westport’s recorded histories contain numerous references to Native American settlement and activity areas and the existing archaeological record for the town supports this presence. Native people who utilized Westport’s abundant natural resources most likely remained in the area well into the historic period, especially given the slow and highly dispersed colonial settlement within the present-day […]
Continue ReadingPosted on February 10, 2014 by Jenny ONeill
Contact Period (1500–1620) The first documented accounts of Native and non-Native interactions along the shores and harbors of Old Dartmouth (the original territory from which Westport was subdivided) indicate that these areas were inhabited by Native American groups affiliated with the Wampanoag tribe (Denison 1879; Ellis 1892; Howland 1907). The MHC (1982) notes a large […]
Continue Reading