Westport (Massachusetts) History

Chronology of Westport History 1500 – present

Adapted from The Archeological Reconnaissance Survey of Westport, Massachusetts 2004. Please contact Westport Historical Society for further information.

The historic period in Westport is categorized as beginning with Native/European contact and includes both Native American and Euro-American cultural components through the modern period. Explorations along the Buzzard’s Bay coastline probably occurred over a period of several hundred years, and likely included sporadic contact between the area’s Native population and various non-Native peoples.

Westport’s seventeenth- and eighteenth-century history is linked with neighboring Dartmouth, which encompassed the present-day town through most of the early periods. Prior to that time, Old Dartmouth encompassed portions of Tiverton and Little Compton, Rhode Island as well as the Massachusetts communities of New Bedford, Westport, Acushnet, and Fairhaven. As a result, many of the early historic period population figures and land use patterns for Westport must be inferred from the larger Old Dartmouth parcel.

The town reportedly earned its name as the westernmost point of the early Massachusetts Bay land grant that extended to Eastport, Maine (Macomber 2003). Westport was incorporated as a town in 1787, with periodic land annexes from Dartmouth in 1793, 1795, and 1805. The Westport/Dartmouth town boundary was established in 1828; the western boundary between Westport and Rhode Island was defined in 1861; and the Fall River/Westport town line was defined in 1894 (MHC 1981a).

While the town contains a central municipal/civic area (Central Village), Westport is made up of many smaller and somewhat independent activity areas. The early creation of a network of villages led to a number of unique cores around which settlement grew. Each of the town’s villages has its own history, although common themes, represented in the current study by specific historic research contexts, bind the various communities into a whole.

The following historic period context addresses Westport’s development from the Contact Period through the Modern Period (circa A.D. 1500–1950). This chapter presents an overview of the general history of the town gathered from written accounts and local information sources. More specific historical information about Westport’s individual villages is presented in Chapter 7 with the predictive model for historic archaeological sites.

Historic Development of Westport

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 Contact Period regional core extending from Buzzard’s Bay to Narragansett Bay, and native population concentrations along the Acushnet, Paskamansett, and Westport rivers.

In 1602, Englishman Bartholomew Gosnold reportedly landed at Gooseberry Neck in Westport and Round Hill in Dartmouth, where he encountered natives bearing gifts of “skins of wild beasts, tobacco, sassafras root, turtles, hemp, artificial strings colored (wampum) and such like things” (Ellis 1892:18; Hurd 1883). John Winthrop reported that the Native Americans living in the Old Dartmouth area were known by the name “Nukkehkammes” (Glennon 2001).

Both branches of the Westport River were likely occupied by the Acoaxset (Acoaxet) Native American group and intensively exploited for their diverse riverine and marine resource base, potential planting grounds, and land and water transportation routes. Among the primary overland native trails was the Old Rhode Island Way, a major transportation corridor linking Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island. The route passed through the Head of Westport along Old County Road and Route 177 (Worth 1908:10). A north-south trail network may have existed along Davis, Gifford, and Drift roads to Westport Harbor; and trails paralleling the West Branch along present-day Old Harbor and Cornell roads have also been conjectured (MHC 1981a). These Native trails, in addition to water routes, would have provided access between coastal resources and interior areas several miles to the north.

Prior to the reconnaissance survey, no Contact Period archaeological sites had been recorded in Westport’s MHC files. Patterns of Native American land use documented elsewhere in the region and in neighboring Dartmouth suggest that the Westport River margins and islands have a high probability of containing archaeological evidence dating to the Contact Period (Herbster and Cox 2002). These sources, combined with additional data collected as part of the reconnaissance survey, indicate that the Native inhabitants of present-day Westport were well established in the town’s coastal and near-interior regions. Naturally formed inland water bodies such as Devol and South Watuppa ponds may also contain similar evidence of Contact Period activity.

Coastal sites dating to the Contact Period could include extensive shell midden deposits and large habitation sites utilized during the summer and warmer months, while smaller winter camps would be expected in the northern/interior portions of town.

First Settlement/Plantation Period (1620–1675)
The lands of Old Dartmouth, purchased on behalf of the Plymouth Colony in 1652, included all or part of the present towns of Dartmouth, New Bedford, Westport, Fairhaven, and Acushnet, Massachusetts, and a strip of Tiverton and Little Compton, Rhode Island. John Cooke and Edward Winslow, serving as representatives of the Colony, bought the land from the Wampanoag Chief Sachem Massasoit and his son, Wamsutta, in consideration of “thirty yards of cloth, eight moose-skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pairs of breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one clock, two pounds in wampum, eight pair stockings, eight pair shoes, one iron pot, and ten shillings” (Grieve 1897:4).

The enormous parcel was divided among 36 proprietors (including William Bradford and Miles Standish) with each individual acquiring at least 800 acres of land. Some of the stone markers designating these plots are still present within the town (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). As with many Native/colonist land transactions brokered in New England during the seventeenth century, the properties were not immediately settled. Most of the first purchasers remained absentee owners and sold off their parcels after the Plymouth authorities began taxing the lands. Only three of the original proprietors are believed to have settled in the area (Gifun 1983).

Several factors may have induced Euro-American settlement in the Westport area by the 1650s. The Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies began persecuting religious dissidents during this period, and as a result many sought lands at a greater distance from the seat of colonial government. Many of the first residents of Old Dartmouth conformed to the Quaker (Society of Friends) religious doctrine and were not affiliated with the church or government of the old Plymouth Colony of Massachusetts. They chose to settle in the fertile agricultural lands and coastal areas of Old Dartmouth where they “. . . would be free to worship according to the dictates of their conscience” (cited in Fitch 1991).

A second settlement incentive was Old Dartmouth’s abundance of rich farmland, navigable waterways, and protected harbors. The urban villages of New England were becoming overcrowded by the mid-seventeenth century, pushing families into the hinterlands in search of more promising agrarian and commercial opportunities.

Because of concerns about conflict with Native groups, early English settlement was clustered at the highly defensible locations of Horseneck Beach and Westport Point (Worth 1908) and, before King Philip’s War (1675), included only an estimated 30 homes (MHC 1981a:3). Family names associated with the early Euro-American settlement of Westport include Earle, Macomber, Ricketson, Sherman, Sisson, Sowle, Tripp, Waite, and Wilcox (WHC 1987:16). Richard Sisson is documented as one of the first residents, with a pre-1676 homestead located on Drift Road at the Head of Westport (Maiocco 1995; WHC 1987). Sisson’s original home was reportedly burned during King Philip’s War and was rebuilt in the general location of the Town Landing (WHC 1987). Daniel Wilcox, a Portsmouth, Rhode Island resident, is recorded as another initial Westport settler who purchased land in 1659 along the East Branch. During this early period, Wilcox appears to have bought and sold large tracts of land along both branches of the river (WHC 1987).

Documentation of specific homesteads and settlement locations is extremely limited for this period. Westport’s early Euro-American settlers within the present-day town appear to have selected the coastal margins and rivers as primary homesteads. Initial settlement was also closely tied to waterpower, leading to the early settlement of the Head of Westport section of town. Interior lands located away from the Westport River and northern portions of Westport remained largely unsettled prior to King Philip’s War, although Native networks, already well traveled, were likely used by the first Euro-American settlers as well.

Colonial Period (1675–1775)
The beginning of this period is marked by the events of King Philip’s War (1675–1676), and Old Dartmouth played a major role in the conflict that extended across much of southern New England. The somewhat clustered settlement at the Head of Apponagansett Bay and Russell’s Garrison (DAR-HA-3) in present-day Dartmouth were a focal point for some of the reported hostilities. The Native population in Westport undoubtedly declined following the war, and some of the indigenous residents were apparently sold into slavery in the West Indies (Old Dartmouth Historical Society, cited in MHC 1981:4).

After King Philip’s War, Euro-American settlement in the Westport area increased rapidly and families began to fan from the previous concentration along the coastline. During this period, the Head of Westport developed from a single residence to a land and sea route crossroads community. Additional farmsteads were scattered along the major Indian trails, which were improved as travel routes to connect growing community clusters at the Head, Hix Bridge and Westport Point.

The topography of the Old Dartmouth land grants, including broad expanses of fertile farmland separated by ponds, rivers, and small inlets, encouraged a decentralized settlement pattern and established the Westport area as a primarily agrarian community. Historian Henry Worth’s reconstruction of Old Dartmouth settlement between 1658 and 1758 indicates that homesteads in Westport were widely separated across the southern half of town rather than tightly gathered into one small village (WHC 1987:16).

A number of early industrial ventures were established at the Head of Westport, capitalizing on the impressive 40-ft drop along the Noquochoke River (WHC 1987:3). Reed Road may have been constructed during this period to provide access to the mills located northeast of the Head (MHC 1981a). The earliest of these mills may have been located along the East Branch and initiated by George Lawton, Benjamin Waite, and John Tripp. This enterprise, established around 1712, was known throughout its history by each of the developer’s names and later in the historic period as Chase’s Mill (Hutt 1924). The increased commercial activity at the Head of Westport necessitated improved passage between the eastern and western sides of the town. Transport via the Hix ferry in the first decade of the eighteenth century, and the Hix Bridge after 1738 improved the route between Little Compton and New Bedford (Hutt 1924; MHC 1981a).

Settlement also occurred during this period in the area known as Central Village, where the town’s first Quaker meetinghouse was built prior to 1761. A second meetinghouse (circa 1761) was built near the junction of Old County Road and Main Road and provides evidence of a growing Quaker population in Westport (MHC 1981a).

The growth rate of Westport, especially after the first quarter of the eighteenth century, can be estimated by using available population figures from this period. A total of 432 persons were listed as Old Dartmouth residents in 1688, while the recorded population in 1765 had risen to 4,506 residents (Gifun 1983:4; MHC 1981a). The tremendous increase in settlement in the Dartmouth area was certainly reflected in Westport as well, where abundant natural resources and a developing road network facilitated human activity.

Federal Period (1775–1830)
This period marks the transition of Westport as an independent town apart from Dartmouth and the establishment of its geographic boundaries. Westport was incorporated on July 2, 1787, and land was added from Dartmouth in 1793, 1795, and 1805. The present-day boundary between Westport and Dartmouth was established in 1828 (MHC 1981a).

The new town of Westport remained a small farming community with several waterpowered grist, saw, corn, and fulling mills. Westport town records indicate that the first townhouse was erected in 1789 on land owned by Stephen Kirby. Town historian Norma Judson reported that the actual site was located at the corner of Main and Adamsville roads on land belonging to Ichabod Potter (personal communication 2004). A map of the new town depicts the river crossing at Hix Bridge and the more general route of Old County Road, as well as a windmill near Westport Point, the Friends meeting house at Central Village, and gristmills south of Cadman’s Neck and on Bread and Cheese Brook. The map also depicts five different mills at the Head of Westport, including two saw- and two gristmills and a forge.

By the mid-eighteenth century, a large number of Quakers established a social center at Central Village, south of the Head of Westport (MHC 1981a). The area’s Quakers eventually broke from the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting to establish the Acoaxet Monthly Meeting in 1766 (Ellis 1892), effectively laying the groundwork for the separation of Westport from Dartmouth in 1787. The first town meeting was held on August 20, 1787 in the home of William Gifford and included William Almy, Edward Borden, Thomas Tripp, and Richard Kirby (Westport Town Records 1787). Almy would later serve as the Westport representative to the state convention, voting in favor of the proposed United States constitution (Smith et al. 1976).

At Westport Point, an active fishing industry began in 1775, and by the early nineteenth century it had become an active whaling port. The first whaling voyage on record from Westport Point occurred in 1806. By 1836, five whaling ships were recorded. The development of fishing and whaling led to the establishment of support industries including shipyards, sail lofts, cooper shops, blacksmiths, and other businesses at Westport Point and the Head of Westport (MHC 1981a).

The Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company was started in 1812, effectively creating the area on the Westport/Dartmouth border that would become known as Westport Factory. The increased demand for products in New Bedford also led to the development of additional mills and the expansion of existing operations in the northeastern section of Westport, including an iron forge initiated in 1789 by William Gifford, Lemuel Milk, and Josiah Leonard (MHC 1981a).

Westport’s most famous resident during this period was Paul Cuffe (1759–1817), son of an African-American father and Native American mother. Cuffe, a successful cod fisherman and entrepreneur, established his farm along the East Branch where he built his home as well as a wharf and storehouses (Smith et al. 1976). Instrumental in providing the franchise to non-whites in Massachusetts, Cuffe also conceived the Back-to-Africa movement, a program through which freed slaves could return to Africa to establish a new, liberated nation. This plan was largely unsuccessful, but did succeed in galvanizing opposition among many New Englanders, black and white, against the practice of slavery.
Census records from this period help to interpret Westport’s evolution as a town. The 1780 federal census (taken before the separation of New Bedford and Westport) lists 841 houses in the town and 1,342 heads of household. Agricultural land use patterns are clearly tied more to animal husbandry than farming, with 10,000 acres listed as pasture, 7,500 acres listed as mowed, and only 2,700 acres listed as tilled land (Glennon 2001:204). The federal census taken in 1790 (after Westport separated from Dartmouth) identified 2,845 residents in Westport, including 1,134 white males over the age of 16, 1,176 white females over the age of 16, 495 white males under 16, and 40 “other free persons” including the families of Paul and John Cuffe (U.S. Bureau of the Census 1908). Although a category exists, the census does not identify any slaves in Westport. The census also does not count females under the age of 16.

Early Industrial Period (1830–1870)

By 1830 a map of Westport indicates that there were five meetinghouses (two Quaker, two Baptist, one Methodist) and 13 schools (MHC 1981a). Improvements in the road network linked all main sections of town and provided overland access to Rhode Island to the west and Dartmouth and New Bedford to the east as well as Fall River to the north.

The decentralized settlement pattern that characterized Westport’s early development continued throughout the nineteenth century and was elaborated into a network of interconnected but separate villages. The major community distinctions included the Point, the Head, North Westport, South Westport, Central Village, the Harbor, Westport Factory, and Horseneck Beach, with each village comprising its own self-contained civic, residential, and commercial profile (Maiocco 1995). Westport’s population remained constant during this period, and only one percent of the population was listed as foreign-born in the 1855 census (MHC 1981a). The 1860 census listed Westport as having a total of 2,767 residents (Macomber and Wertz 1997:3). As a result, the settlement cores that had formed in earlier periods were generally maintained with little outward growth.

By contrast, the early to mid-nineteenth century was marked as one the greatest economic expansion periods in the town’s history. Whaling was Westport’s primary economic endeavor throughout the period, accounting for much of the town’s prosperity. Barber (1839) noted that there were eight whalers operating out of Westport Point in the 1830s. By the 1830s, cod-fishing sloops refitted as coasting vessels hauled sperm oil to New York and returned to Westport with a wide variety of goods. By 1855, Westport was the home port for between 18 and 22 whaling ships, employing 462 men and netting $105,000 worth of sperm whale oil. With the discovery of petroleum, however, the whaling industry quickly died out. By 1865 there were only 10 whaling vessels still operating out of Westport and by 1875 there were no whaling operations recorded (MHC 1981a).

Light industry also contributed to town growth, and included an expansion of the Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company. The company, begun in the first quarter of the century in a converted sawmill, grew into a complex of structures comprising mills, storehouses, and worker housing. Although plagued with financial difficulties throughout its operation, it was the single largest manufactory in Westport during the late nineteenth century, producing carpet-warp, twine, cotton batting, and wicking (Hutt 1924).

Late Industrial Period (1870–1915)

In response to the decline in whaling, Westport returned to its agriculture emphasis. By 1875, 67 percent of working Westporters listed their occupation as “farmers,” and by 1895 the town was the fourth largest supplier of agricultural products in Massachusetts, at $523,460 per year (MAAC 1895). The Baker and Gifford families also started cranberry operations near the coast (Beers 1871). Fishing remained a mainstay of the Westport economy. Cod was harvested for sale to neighboring towns, menhaden was used to fertilize agricultural fields, and a corollary industry of saltworks developed at the Point, extracting salt from the brine used to preserve the fish (Smith et al. 1976). Windmills provided much of the power needed to move saltwater through the system of vats and drying racks (N. Judson, personal communication 2003).

The growth of the agricultural and light industrial base of Westport was enhanced by the construction of rail lines through the town. The Watuppa Branch of the Old Colony Railroad passed through the northern portion of town in 1872. This transportation network allowed Westport farmers, in particular, to expediently get their products to expanding and profitable urban markets. In 1894, the Dartmouth and Westport Street Railway linked Westport with New Bedford and Fall River. Roadways were also improved during this period to accommodate increased traffic into and out of Westport, and the New Fall River Road (Route 6) was built.

Summer tourism began to attract people to coastal sections of Westport during the 1870s. Wealthy New Bedford merchants employed servants, including immigrants (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). Westport Point was connected to Horseneck Beach by a bridge in 1893 and became a popular summer vacation spot, with small cabins and grander summer homes sprouting up across the shoreline and protected inland bays (Ellis 1892).

Westport’s population increased slightly between 1870 and 1880, declined slightly between 1880 and 1890, and then began a slow increase through the turn of the century. The number of immigrants also increased during this period from 11 percent of the total population in 1883 to 20 percent in 1915. Around the turn of the century, Westport saw an influx of Portuguese (and particularly Azorean) families who were drawn to the area by relatively inexpensive farmland. French Canadian families were already present in the Westport Factory area but continued to move into Westport from the New Bedford area, with a concentrated settlement around the Narrows (Maiocco 1995:2).

Historian D. Hamilton Hurd described Westport at the end of the Late Industrial Period for his History of Bristol County (1883). He noted that there were five post offices, corresponding to the main settlement areas of North Westport, Westport, South Westport, Central Village and Westport Point. As the twentieth century approached, the town was moving from its height as a commercial and industrial power to a more residential area focused on agriculture and village community.

Modern Period (1915–Present)
The 1920 federal census indicates that Westport’s population was just more than 3,000 persons and included 677 residents classified as “foreign-born.” An additional 966 persons were recorded as American citizens born of “foreign or mixed” parents. The town was comprised of 759 families living in 724 homes (Hunt 1922). Town records provide more specific information on the ethnic makeup of Westport. In 1924, the tax rolls included 2,237 people, of which 145 were of Portuguese descent and 137 of French descent. Four years later, the 2,135 taxpayers included 231 Portuguese-descent and 391 French-descent individuals. Together, these two groups comprised nearly 30 percent of the town’s 1928 population (Ledoux 1995:33, 35). The ethnic heritage of the community, especially in northern Westport, is evident in the recollections of a local French Canadian historian, who did not speak English when he arrived with his family as a teenager in Westport. He notes that many other students, merchants and teachers spoke fluent French and were able to bridge the gap while he adapted to English (Ledoux 1995:36).

The advent of the internal combustion engine fueled the transformation of Westport from a predominantly “Yankee” community to one of relative ethnic and economic diversity. As automobiles became the primary mode of transportation, a network of paved roads, bridges, and interstate highways was developed and the town began to experience population growth tied to its popularity as a resort community. A causeway to Gooseberry Neck was built in 1924, opening that area to tourists and residents alike.

All of these construction efforts, however, were decimated by the hurricane of 1938. The storm wiped out virtually the entire communities at Horseneck Beach and Westport Harbor, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed 22 people. Other severe hurricanes in 1944 and 1954 wiped out subsequent rebuilding efforts on Horseneck Beach. Despite these economic setbacks, the general prosperity following World War II ensured steady development farther inland.

Population growth also was spurred by emigration from surrounding communities. The development of New Bedford and Fall River into industrial powerhouses during the early twentieth century led to an influx of French-Canadian and Portuguese working-class families looking for reasonably priced homes outside of the urban centers. The growth of summer tourism during this period and the corresponding need for domestic help likely added to the number of foreign-born residents living in Westport. The increased population called for the construction and implementation of many new town buildings and services. Prominent among these new developments was the establishment of the Factory School, the hiring of a town police chief and sergeant, and the creation of the Board of Welfare (Maiocco 1995). By 1950, Westport had approximately 4,500 residents, a prosperous economy, and a diverse social, economic, and cultural profile.