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.
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Adapted from The Archeological Reconnaissance Survey of Westport, Massachusetts 2004. Please contact Westport Historical Society for further information.
Included here are summary histories of North Westport, Westport Factory, South Westport, Head of Westport, Westport Point, Westport Harbor, and Horseneck.
North Westport
This interior section of Westport did not develop a core area of settlement as early as some of the other sections of town. Instead, this zone is characterized by nineteenth- and twentieth-century residential clusters, and by the corridors surrounding Route 6 and Interstate 195. Three historic period archaeological sites were identified within this zone during the reconnaissance survey.
The construction of the Old Colony railroad across Watuppa Pond spawned the development of a small recreational hamlet in the 1870s. The completion of the railroad bridge divided South Watuppa Pond and created a protected water body that became known as Middle Pond. This area, which became known as “The Narrows,” developed almost immediately with the construction of two boathouses on the east and west sides of Middle Pond. Summer boating and fishing, and winter skating drew many of the town’s residents and people from neighboring communities, and led to the construction of numerous casinos and clubs on the waterfront. In the 1940s the Narrows was a magnet for the town’s nightlife, drawing crowds with professional singers, comedians, and dancers. The construction of Route 195 in the 1960s resulted in the filling of Middle Pond and the end of the Narrows as a thriving social center (Maiocco 1995:73).
The Narrows also supported several ice businesses run by the Lassonde and Ouellette families. Large wooden ice houses were constructed near the water and huge quantities of ice were cut and stacked in January for year-round delivery (Maiocco 1995:72).
A major settlement node in this portion of Westport was the nineteenth-century community that grew at the intersection of Old Bedford and Blossom roads. Sanford Road also developed early in the historic period and was dominated by the Borden family homestead. The Bordens first came to Westport in the 1630s (Maiocco 1995:73). Primarily an agricultural area, it was remote from the major fishing industries clustered at the Head of Westport and Westport Point, as well as the industrial village of Westport Factory. Its location at a crossroads leading north and west to the urban center of Fall River, however, meant easy market access for the products in this region and contributed to Westport’s continued strength as an agrarian-based economy during the historic period. The area was dominated by several prominent families, and examples of the agrarian settlement pattern include the circa 1850 Gershon-Wordell Farm. The concentration of families in this area led to the establishment of a cemetery in 1840, the erection of a Baptist Church in 1858, and a small school around 1871. The cluster of structures that comprises the Brownell Corner Historic District is partially located along the southern boundary of this zone (see discussion in Central Village Zone, below).
Although Cadman’s Neck is associated with the late-nineteenth-century camp meeting in Westport, a second camp meeting was apparently organized in North Westport. Known as Beulah, the meeting was reported to have occurred at the northern end of Gifford Road (Smith et al. 1976:44). No additional information about this religious gathering was collected as part of the survey.
Large farms characterized much of this zone during the historic period. One example is the Sampson Farm located at the intersection of Blossom and Old Bedford roads. The family farm has its origins in the late nineteenth century and by the 1920s was a major producer of potatoes, as well as cattle, horses and other vegetables (Maiocco 1995:77).
Several CRM investigations have been completed within the Lakeside Zone. Two small parcels were investigated at the reconnaissance through evaluation levels as part of a proposed Air Force project in Westport that was never constructed (Decima et al. 1988; Hoffman 1990). The Nardelli parcel (named for a modern period landowner) is located north of Route 177, west of Sanford Road, and south of an existing pipeline easement within a generally undeveloped wooded area. The archaeological investigations resulted in the identification of several stone wall alignments within a thickly wooded area and the investigation of a potential Native American grave marker. A historic period cemetery, possibly containing Native American burials, was also reported in the area. No evidence of human burials or grave markers was documented, nor were any foundations located during the studies.
This area was not formally designated as a historic archaeological site, but the identification of landscape features associated with historic period residential and/or agricultural compounds suggest the potential for historic deposits to be present in the immediate vicinity. There is also the possibility that the historic period cemetery known in local history could be located near to but outside of the area investigated. Additional research in the vicinity of the Nardelli parcel would be needed in order to determine if historic archaeological resources are present.
The MHC National Register files include three historic areas located within this zone. The Blossom-Bedford Road Area includes more than two dozen inventoried standing structures and several cemeteries. The American Legion Highway Area (Route 177) includes approximately six inventoried structures, and the Brownell Corner Area includes historic structures and cemeteries located at this small village (MHC National Register files).
Another area of high sensitivity is located within the wetland network south of Benoit Street and west of Sanford Road. A small millpond may be depicted in this area on the 1830 map of Westport. The 1871 (Beers) atlas map of Westport indicates that cider and sawmills were located in this same area, and the present-day wetland network may represent a partially filled millpond. This mill site, designated as the Sanford-Borden mill, was identified by informants as the site of structural remains and landscape features.
The historic period sensitivity of this zone is highest along either side of the nineteenth-century roadways and historic areas mentioned above as well as along Sanford Road. Expected site types in these areas would be expected to be related to residential and farm complexes and could include the foundations of demolished homes or outbuildings, trash middens, wells, cart paths, orchards and animal pens and field enclosures.
Despite a high degree of modern period development, limited evidence of the late-nineteenth-century community around the Narrows may also still be present. Expected resources in this area could include remnant deposits associated with the recreational use of this area, as well as foundations related to the ice industry at the pond’s shoreline. The visible railroad ties and associated grading at the Narrows together with a series of placed mill stones was identified as documentation of the creation and use of this transportation corridor during the nineteenth century. Additional historic period remnants of the Old Colony line, including railroad sidings and stations, could be present in areas that have not been extensively altered by highway and modern railroad construction. A landing site located on the eastern edge of Watuppa Pond also documents the importance of water bodies in this section of Westport.
Expected sites could also include historic period Native American habitation and activity areas and burial grounds, located along trail networks and near wetland margins.
Low sensitivity zones include natural wetland areas that do not appear to have been utilized in the historic period and modern development corridors including Routes 195 and 6 and the existing gas pipeline. Limited nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century archaeological deposits could be located along the Route 6 corridor, especially in proximity to historic standing structures or within small, undeveloped parcels of woodland. In general, however, the extent of road and utility construction and recent commercial use along Route 6 limits its sensitivity.
Westport Factory Zone
The Westport Factory Village area lies at the southeastern boundary of the Westport Factory Zone and is partially located in the town of Dartmouth. A thriving manufacturing area formed around the confluence of Lake Noquochoke, the East Branch of the Westport River, and Bread and Cheese Brook. This area has been split between the Westport Factory and Head of Westport geopolitical zones for purposes of the reconnaissance survey. While two distinct village centers developed at these areas, mills and other historic commercial enterprises were located all along the waterways between these two areas. Seven historic period archaeological sites were identified in the Westport Factory Zone, and all but one of them documents mills that were located along the Bread and Cheese Brook or the Noquochoke River.
The historic development of mill activity has been documented as early as 1812, but it is highly likely that earlier mills (including a ca. 1795 operation) were located around the Factory Village area (Butler 1973). The Westport Cotton Manufacturing Company occupied a wooden building in the village center that was replaced in 1828 by the granite building that stood into the recent past. The company developed as an offshoot support industry for Fall River’s textile factories.
The village industries expanded around 1854 with the arrival of the Lewis and Trafford brothers, who utilized several existing stone mill buildings and built new structures to accommodate their cordage business. The mill owners impounded the river, creating Lake Noquochoke to provide waterpower to the factory for roughly nine months out of the year. A backup steam engine provided power when necessary.
The mill complex was enlarged between 1870 and 1872 to include an additional stone mill and four storehouses. As demand increased, a storage plant was constructed in Fall River (Connors 2003). The company’s presence was not limited to mill buildings alone. The company also assisted with the development and construction of Route 6 in the 1890s by providing labor, horses, stone and gravel and other supplies (WHC 1987:26). As many as 300 workers were employed at the factory in the late nineteenth century; many of these individuals were of French-Canadian descent. The business also operated a company store, leased out more than 30 small homes to its employees, and supplied coal to the residents (Butler 1973). An additional 30 homes were built in the area to house the upper level managers (WHC 1987).
The Westport Manufacturing Company produced carpet warp, twine, mop yarn, batting and lamp wicks from scrap materials obtained from the nearby Fall River cotton mills (Connors 2003). In 1918 the company was still operating at a full-time schedule with approximately 300 employees. During this period, the mill business included 1,400 acres and 38 buildings, along with employee housing, the company store, a church (shared by the Protestant and Catholic workers), and a two-story schoolhouse (Connors 2003). Mill activity continued in Westport Village until the 1920s, but declining demand led the company to declare bankruptcy in 1938 (Maiocco 1995; WHC 1987).
Physical elements of the Westport Manufacturing Company are still visible in this section of town, including some of the former worker housing built nearby. The WHS holds some of the business records of the company, and these documents may also be useful in locating and identifying potential archaeological deposits associated with the business (Connors 2003). Elements of the mill complex were identified as archaeological sites during the survey. Additional research will be necessary to tie specific deposits to the Westport Manufacuturing Company or to any number of earlier mills that were located in this general area.
The village center housed the largest manufacturing operations, but historic mills were not limited to this area. Activity was focused around the Upper Mill on Route 6 and the Lower Mill on Forge Road. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mill activity within this designated zone has been documented along Bread and Cheese Brook at Trout Pond and in the Mouse Mill area north of the road that bears the same name. A spoke factory was reportedly in operation at Mouse Mill (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). Additional operations including saw-, grist-, and leather mills were located downstream from the Factory Village Center. One of the more unusual of these mills was a wooden rule factory located on the north side of Reed Road. A large complex of buildings and landscape features was established in this area some distance from the main waterpower source. Each of these mills was recorded as an archaeological site; the field survey at a number of these former mills documented the existence of well-preserved standing ruins and landscape features that could greatly contribute to an understanding of the development of mill technology over the historic period in Westport.
Evidence of many of the historically documented mills in this area can be found in Westport today. Visible archaeological features such as building foundations, head and tail races, wheel pits, and earthen and stone dams and berms are present all along these watercourses and indicate the overall high archaeological sensitivity of this zone. Several of these mill sites were visited during the Phase I fieldwork, and appear to represent well-preserved, intact ruins that possess a high degree of archaeological integrity. Archaeological deposits associated with these operations could include the structural remains discussed above as well as belowground deposits such as foundations, storage and dumping areas, processing areas, wells and privies, and evidence of outbuildings.
The historic period sensitivity of this zone is not limited to the Westport Factory village area. The second of two small parcels investigated as part of a proposed Air Force project is located in this zone (Decima et al. 1988; Hoffman 1990) (see discussion above). The Nisby parcel is situated near the northeastern corner of Westport, north of Old Bedford Road and east of Blossom Road. The archaeological investigations did not recover any artifacts or other cultural deposits but did identify a remnant roadway, stone wall sections, and several historic buildings and foundations. Although the area was not designated as an archaeological site, the landscape features and documented historic period activity in this section of Westport suggest that historic archaeological deposits could be present.
Central Village Zone
This large zone covers much of the western half of Westport and includes numerous small residential and commercial historic centers. Ten historic archaeological sites were identified in this zone as a result of the reconnaissance survey. These sites document commercial/industrial areas, residential activity, transportation networks, and burial grounds.
Central Village itself contains the present-day town hall and police station and serves as the unofficial town center. The village historically served as a central hub, and was located at the intersection of two horse-drawn stage lines (Maiocco 1995). Although the village served as the main historic core of this zone, satellite villages developed at Giffords, Kirby, Woods, Booth and Macomber corners and Westport includes a small portion of the village that developed along the Rhode Island border at Adamsville. For the most part, these smaller villages developed at historic road intersections and were named after families that established homes and farmsteads in the vicinity. Most of these hamlets were created in the nineteenth century, and as residential settlement expanded commercial and institutional structures such as general stores, schools and churches were built.
Route 177 (American Legion Highway) was a major corridor of settlement during the nineteenth century. Formerly an old colonial road providing a route east toward Westport Factory and west through Howland’s Ferry in Tiverton, at least two concentrated nodes of settlement occurred here in the 1800s. Brownell Corner represents the first of these and is located at the intersection of Route 177 and Sanford Road. This busy location undoubtedly was an attractive settlement option for a dairy farmer seeking easy transport of his products to major industrial markets. The designated National Register district includes the Brownell House (ca. 1830), the Devol House (ca. 1850), the George H. Brownell House (ca. 1868), the Fourth Christian Church, established in 1843, and the Brownell Family Cemetery, with headstones ranging from 1830 to 1930.
A second small community also developed at the corner of Lawton Lane, just west of Brownell Corner. This area was dominated by members of the Lawton family, most of whom were engaged in agriculture. Historic period maps indicate that the Lawton Lane community did not develop its own church or cemetery complex, suggesting that residents shared those resources with their neighbors at Brownell Corner.
Gifford’s Corner, located at the intersection of County and Main roads, was the location of a circa 1761 Quaker meetinghouse to serve the northern town residents. This structure, known as the Centre Meetinghouse, was utilized until 1840 when it was moved nearer to the village (Hutt 1924). The Friends burial ground located north of Westport High School marks the location of this former meeting.
Further south, the east-west transportation corridor established along Adamsville and Hix Bridge roads also supported small community cores. The Central Village area was located at the intersection of Adamsville Road and the north-south route of Main Road, and served through most of the historic period to the present-day as the official town center. In addition to buildings, this section of town contained features such as open green space (one of which contained the Village Tree until 1961) and the Town Pump, built in 1907 (and removed in 1980) (Maiocco 1995). Central Village has been designated as a National Register-eligible area and includes more than two dozen inventoried buildings and cemeteries (MHC National Register files).
Many of the historic buildings along Main Road have remained in continuous use since the 1800s. One example is the present-day Westport Lobster Company, located at the corner of Main Road and Adamsville Road. This business is located in a stable built around 1850, used by an undertaker in the late 1800s, as a distribution center for clothing during the Depression, and as an antiques shop in the 1950s (Maiocco 1995). There appears to be some debate over the location of the first town hall building, although all historians agree that it was situated within Central Village. One source reports that the original Westport Town House, constructed in 1790, is located on Main Road (Ledoux 1995:35). This building has been modified in the modern period for use as the St. John the Baptist Parish Hall (Smith et al. 1976). The location of the first town hall was also reported near the Westport Lobster Company on land designated by a member of the Potter family (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). This pattern of building reuse is typical in southern New England’s coastal communities and is undoubtedly typical of much of historic Westport. The yards surrounding many of these buildings could contain archaeological deposits associated with earlier periods of use, including foundations from demolished buildings, footings for outbuildings, trash dumps, privies, and wells.
The Central Village center also contains the Westport Friends Meeting House, a structure associated with one of Westport’s most prominent African-American residents. Paul Cuffe, a renowned boat builder, philanthropist, and merchant, was part of the Westport Quaker community and is buried with his wife near the meetinghouse. The present-day meetinghouse stands on the same parcel that housed an earlier structure, built in 1716 (Smith et al. 1976). The land for the original meetinghouse had been conveyed to the Dartmouth Monthly Friends meeting by George Cadman, whose farm extended from Hix Bridge west to Central Village (Worth 1934). Archaeological investigations at the Apponagansett Meeting House in Dartmouth indicated the potential for earlier foundations and outbuildings to be present near that town’s current meetinghouse. These features could also be expected in the vicinity of Westport’s meetinghouse. The likelihood for unmarked burials relating to Quaker and/or Native American individuals is considered high based on documentary research and informant interviews (A. Baker, personal communication 2003; Maiocco 1995:17).
This area also contains the remains of one of Westport’s oldest documented buildings, the Waite-Potter House located north of Central Village on Main Road near Snell Brook. The exact date of the construction of his house is not known, but has been reported as sometime in the period between 1667 and 1677 (Maiocco 1995). The land on which the home stands was sold to Thomas Waite in 1661 as a 200-acre farm. The property remained in the Waite family until 1827. A 50-acre parcel including the house was sold to Restcombe Potter in 1837. Two family burial grounds are associated with the farmstead; a Kirby plot located on the east side of Main Road, and a Waite plot on the west side (Worth 1934).
The Waite-Potter house was documented as part of the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934 (HABS, MASS,3-WESPOS,1-1), at which point it retained almost all of its original architectural features (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin). In 1940, this building was reportedly the oldest standing structure in all of southeastern Massachusetts (Maiocco 1995:31). The home may have been extensively damaged by the hurricane of 1944, and although the building fell into disrepair and was dismantled in the 1950s, structural elements including the stone chimney base are still visible today (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). Some of the home’s original architectural elements were salvaged and used in the renovation of the historic Wilbur House in Little Compton (Maiocco 1995). The presence of at least some structural remains and the extensive architectural documentation would be of great assistance in locating and interpreting archaeological evidence of the Waite-Potter house. Additional archaeological features spanning the home’s 300-year history are almost certainly present below the current ground surface, especially given the condition of the house as recently as the 1930s. To date, no apparent construction has occurred in the immediate vicinity of the home, also contributing to the overall archaeological sensitivity of this location.
Two sites located along Snell Creek also appear to document historic period homes and/or farmsteads. The Snell Creek Complex includes a foundation, well, and small burial plot; the nearby Snell Creek Burial Ground may be the site of a Native American cemetery. Additional research is necessary to determine if these two sites are related, or if they represent one historic period site area.
The Adamsville area is the historic location of Gray’s Mill and includes numerous features found in the other mill village areas, as well as about a dozen inventoried historic structures (MHC files). The historic settlement in this area, first known as Taber Mills, coincided with the construction of Philip Taber’s mill around 1710 (Maiocco 1995:64; Smith et al. 1976). Philip Gray purchased the mill complex in the 1870s, and some of the mill components operate under the same name today. While much of this village is currently located in Little Compton, the mills were originally located within Westport’s boundaries and support structures and residential development related to the village are located in present-day Westport (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). This area has been identified as a potential archaeological site. A saltworks was reported to have operated in the tidal marsh at the head of the West Branch, and has also been identified as a potential site area (A. Baker, personal communication 2003).
This general area may have supported Contact Period Native American settlement. A concentration of archaeological sites dating to this period was identified in Dartmouth in a similar environmental setting where saltwater resources merged with overland trail networks (Herbster and Cox 2002).
The southern section of the Central Village Zone includes the upper reaches of the West Branch. Historically, the hilly and rocky section of town around Nootas Hill was not heavily settled and was not linked via overland roads to the Central Village communities. This area was also the reported site of a Native American burial ground, recorded as an archaeological site as part of the survey. The lack of documented eighteenth- and nineteenth-century settlement suggests the possibility that Native Americans may have resided in this section of Westport. As Euro-American development spread across Westport Point and other near-coastal areas, Native families may have occupied otherwise uninhabited or sparsely settled sections of Westport.
One archaeological deposit reported by a local resident indicates that the western banks of the West Branch were settled in the eighteenth century. The Moss Midden Site consists of a shell midden trash deposit containing fish and animal bone as well as fragments of redware ceramic vessels, clay pipe stems, and metal cutlery (B. Moss, personal communication 2003). Although there is not enough collected data to determine whether this site was created by Native or Euro-Americans, its identification does indicate the potential for eighteenth (and possibly seventeenth) century sites to be present in this section of town.
Historic period archaeological deposits could also be expected on the large islands located in the upper portion of the West Branch. Many early historic period residents used coastal islands to pasture livestock; animals could be driven out at low tide and left unattended when the water levels rose. Great Island was the location of a religious commune in the early twentieth century, and evidence of the island’s use is visible at the shoreline in the form of stone pilings (A. Baker, personal communication 2003).
In general, the historic archaeological sensitivity of this zone is highest in proximity to established road networks and around each of the village settlement areas. Smaller areas of high sensitivity are located around documented home or farmsteads that were situated off the main thoroughfares and in proximity to natural resources such as streams, brooks and ponds, and saltwater wetlands.
Areas of low sensitivity are limited to the modern commercial development strips along Route 177 and Main Road, large wetland areas that would not have been attractive for mill operations, and large disturbed areas such as gravel pits.
Head of Westport Zone
The Head of Westport, known early in the historic period as Westport Village, was initially settled by Euro-Americans around 1671 with the construction of a home by Richard Sisson. Sisson’s original homestead was supposed to have been located near 137 Drift Road, but was burned during King Philip’s War. A second home was built in the general location of the stone house that sits just south of the triangle at the Head, and Wilcox may have operated a tavern there in the early eighteenth century (WHC 1987:19).
Daniel Wilcox was another seventeenth-century settler; his farmstead was located on the east side of the East Branch and extended south to the area around Hix Bridge Road. Wilcox’s homestead was supposed to have been located on a long-term Native American campsite known as Wasontuxsett in an area below Pine Hill Road (WHC 1987:18). This reference suggests the possibility that Late Woodland and/or Contact Period Native American archaeological deposits could be located in the general area. A few other families settled this general area prior to 1700, including members of the Mott, Lawton, Waite, Tripp, and Ricketson families. Town histories suggest that most of the early residents were resettled from the Portsmouth, Rhode Island area (WHC 1987:20).
The Head of Westport area was undoubtedly occupied by Native Americans prior to the arrival of colonists, especially given the abundant resources associated with the upper Noquochoke and the likely continuity prehistoric period land use in this area (see discussion above). A Native American cemetery was reported along the eastern bank of the river approximately 1.5 miles north of Hix Bridge (Tripp n.d.:16). A second Native cemetery is said to be located along Drift Road, but since there are many historic period cemeteries along the length of Drift Road it is unclear which recorded cemetery (if any) this reference identifies. A local resident and WHS member reported that a Native American cemetery is located in the general area west of Drift Road near the Head of Westport; this site has been recorded as part of the survey since its location could be mapped somewhat accurately (N. Burkholder, personal communication 2003).
Early industrial entrepreneurs were drawn to the waterpower generated by the 40-foot natural fall line at the confluence of the Noquochoke River and Bread and Cheese Brook, and by the proximity of east-west land routes and southern water routes. The Head boasted one of the strongest waterpower sources in the town, and was able to support a greater number and diversity of mills than most other sections of Westport (WHC 1987).
The area became a major milling center despite early setbacks incurred during King Philip’s War. In 1712 or 1713, George Lawton, Benjamin Waite, and John Tripp secured 70 acres of land north of the Head along the river and built two mills, one owned by Lawton on the west side of the river, and one on the east side owned by Waite and later known as Tripp’s or Chase’s Mill (Hutt 1924). The first documented mills appear to have been built in the 1740s, although it is likely that some sort of limited mill activity occurred on the site in the earlier period. Lawton’s sawmill operated for nearly 200 years (WHC 1987). Several of the Head’s mill sites have been recorded as archaeological sites and are discussed in the Westport Factory Zone discussion (above).
By the eighteenth century, the Head of Westport boasted a proliferation of saw- and gristmills, a shingle mill, a foundry, and cotton mill. One of the early mills was bought in 1789 by William Gifford, Lemuel Milk, and Josiah Lord. The new owners built a dam and converted the mill for use as a forge (Smith et al. 1976). The complex included a water-powered bellows and trip-hammer (WHC 1987).
The industrial base at the Head evolved over the nineteenth century to include a variety of mills that were used to manufacture hoes, process textiles, turn lathes and grind corn. Manufacturing was not limited to waterpower sources. Davol’s paint mill, for example, was powered by a windmill (Smith et al. 1976:32).
The existing mill infrastructure was also useful for private ventures. In 1795, New Bedford merchant and whale ship owner William Rotch purchased a 20-acre parcel at the Head of Westport that included several existing saw- and gristmills, a working forge (likely the one mentioned above) and blacksmith shop, a coal house, and at least one dwelling. Over the next 50 years, this complex outfitted and repaired Rotch’s vessels (Smith et al. 1976:27).
Smaller mill complexes were located just north of the Head and relied upon the waterpower supplied by Bread and Cheese Brook and the Noquochoke. The Mouse Mill area was originally developed for grinding small amounts of grain (reportedly named for its production of only enough to feed a mouse) and was later converted for use as a shingle mill. The owner, George Gifford, also built a factory in this area that used Gifford’s machinery to shave wagon spokes. The Trout Pond area was developed by the Snell family and supported a carding- and sawmill around 1820 (see discussion above). A leather tannery was located on the property of Charles Baker on Wolf Pit Hill. The mill drew water from a pond and brook to the north that have since been destroyed by a gravel pit (WHC 1987:23–24).
The Head of Westport was also the location of Thomas Winslow’s nineteenth-century shipyard, which produced several noteworthy whaling ships. Winslow may have acquired the property around the landing from Lemuel Milk, who may have built several small ships at the site to transport his products down the river. Winslow built ships on both the west and east sides of the river at the previously established landings. The Head also served as an important town landing, and during the historic period a great quantity of materials passed in and out of the town through this area, designated as one of several public landings in Westport. One of the largest vessels built at the east landing was the 202-ton Phebe Ann in 1805. The west landing was used to launch numerous one to three hundred-ton ships including the Nye, the President, the Iris, the Alice and the Thomas Winslow (WHC 1987:27).
Unlike most other sections of Westport, the Head was not historically focused on agriculture. While Westport’s farm products certainly passed out of this area on local vessels, the community was comprised primarily of merchants, tradespeople, and men engaged in shipbuilding and other maritime trades (WHC 1987). After the 1850s, shipbuilding and milling activities at the Head declined and more businesses catered to the area’s prosperous residents. The Head was also known at the time as “Westport Village,” was home to more than 30 sea captains, many of whom were well-off and retired (WHC 1987:10). Late-nineteenth-century shops at the Head included a tailor, cobbler, men’s and women’s haberdasheries, and a cabinet maker. Many of these businesses were established along the east and west landings that had formerly housed the shipyards (WHC 1987).
One of the more interesting homes built during the Head’s heyday is the stone mansion located just south of the town landing on the west side of the river. Humphrey Howland built the home around 1830 at a cost reported to be $11,000. The stone used to build the mansion and the surrounding fence was thought to have come from a huge boulder (possibly an outcrop) on a farm a quarter mile away (Worth 1908:21). Town historian Norma Judson noted that the stone was quarried from the Sisson Farm on Drift Road (personal communication 2004). The home retains much of its nineteenth-century character today, with a large landscaped yard area. Archaeological deposits associated with the construction and use of the house and grounds could be expected to survive on the property.
As the twentieth century began, the Head of Westport began to lose its former luster. Many of the old sea captains were no longer alive and the community lost its core of prosperous merchants. While Westport Point and coastal sections of town attracted wealthy summer residents, few chose the Head. The increasing popularity of automobile travel and the improvement of roadways also lessened the importance of the Head’s geographic position on the East Branch (WHC 1987). Residential settlement became more focused on middle-class families and the community took on the suburban character it retains today.
The density of industrial operations at the Head necessitated support from shops, taverns, and worker housing. Documented structures in this village included dry goods and general stores, harness and carriage shops, wheelwrights, and an undertaker. Like other areas in Westport, many of these eighteenth- and nineteenth-century businesses were located in buildings still in use today as private homes, offices, and retail shops. Buried archaeological deposits and features could be expected in the vicinity of any of these historic operations.
The Head also served through the historic and modern periods as a central community gathering area where public events were staged. Several homes were also located here in the historic period. Many of these took place in the open area known as “the Triangle” at the intersection of Old County and Drift roads, located on the west side of the town landing.
The Head of Westport is one of the most documented historic sections of town and contains a large number of recorded historic period structures. This area was determined to be National Register-eligible and more than 50 historic structures have been inventoried (MHC files). Like other sections of Westport, however, prior to the survey this area did not contain any recorded historic archaeological sites. Remnants of early commercial/industrial sites such as the Gifford Mill on Bread and Cheese Brook and the mill complex just north of the Head and east of Gifford Road (sometimes known as the Tripp, Waite and Potter mill) were visited during the Phase I fieldwork. These areas contain substantial stone foundations and other landscape features that appear well preserved and intact, indicating the overall high archaeological sensitivity of previously documented mill sites.
While the archaeological sensitivity of the Head of Westport is closely tied to its focus on commercial and industrial enterprises, there are clearly a wide variety of archaeological resource types that could be expected throughout the zone. Areas of highest sensitivity are located all along the Bread and Cheese Brook, Lake Noquochoke and East Branch wetlands as well as the corridors of the major historic roadways.
Archaeological deposits could also be expected at the locations of documented historic structures that have either been removed or demolished in the modern period. Examples include the former site of the Coggeshall House on Reed Road. While visible aboveground indications of this structure (dismantled and moved to Newport) may not be present, it is likely that belowground deposits including cellar holes and trash middens could still be present in yard areas that have not been substantially altered or developed since the removal.
Other standing structures still in use today document historic period activity in this section of town. For example, the former town farm was located in an eighteenth-century building complex along Drift Road that today is still owned by the town and contains two rental apartments (see discussion in Chapter 5). This property is listed in the MHC’s inventory of historic structures (MHC 181). It is considered extremely likely that archaeological features related to the former use of this structure could still be present on the property.
Limited areas of low archaeological sensitivity include expansive marshes not suited to the production of waterpower and some of the tidal wetland areas along the East Branch.
South Westport Zone
This section of Westport developed as its own historic community near the intersection of Horseneck, Pine Hill, and Hix Bridge roads (Maiocco 1995). The development of the Hix ferry, and later the Hix Bridge, was instrumental to the development of this portion of Westport as it provided the easiest and narrowest point of passage across the river between Drift and Horseneck roads, both of which lay along the route of pre-existing Native American trails.
The community center located at the road intersection is largely gone, but remnants of the circa 1865 South Westport general store and post office are still visible on the north side of Hix Bridge Road. The store served as a stop on the Little Compton-to-New Bedford stage line in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The closing of the South Westport post office in the mid-1960s appears to have been the end of the community center at this location (Maiocco 1995). More than 30 historic properties in South Westport have been designated as part of a National Register area (MHC files).
The earliest settlement of the Hix Bridge area occurred before 1700, based on deeds researched by historian Henry Worth. Early property owners along the Contact Period highway (present-day Hix Bridge Road) included Valentine Huddlestone, Samuel Cornell, and Joseph Coleman (Worth 1934). A large farm located on the north side of the highway was owned by Peleg Slocum, followed by William Ricketson, and George Cadman. Cadman owned the farm between 1686 and 1718 (Worth 1934). This property eventually became known as the Handy Farm.
The earliest reference to a ferry at the site appears to date to 1707, when the roadway was described as beginning “where the ferryboat now usually lands” (Worth 1934). George Cadman conveyed his property to Mary Hix in 1710 at which time she established her home and a ferry landing. Court records indicate that Mary Hix was issued a license to sell liquor, suggesting that she operated an inn or tavern along with the ferry (Worth 1934). Her son, William, bought the property in 1735 and promptly began construction on a toll bridge, completed in 1738. The bridge became a source of contention in town, however, when the Head of Westport mill owner George Lawton, among others, protested to the General Court the structure as a nuisance in that it obstructed the passage of boats up and down the river. Hix’s position as a General Court representative between 1739 and 1749 ensured that the suit went nowhere (Worth 1934).
When ships were launched from the Head, or needed to pass north of Hix Bridge, teams of oxen were utilized to drag the boat up across the landing, around the bridge, and back into the river on the other side. Reportedly, the Hix house itself was built on a moveable skid that allowed oxen to pull the building aside when wider ships needed to be portaged (WHC 1987:28).
The bridge and farm were sold to Dr. James H. Handy and Frederick Brownell in 1814. It was agreed between the two men that Handy should record the property in his name and then convey to Brownell the bridge and all of the land east of the “Driftway” (Drift Road) for the sum of $2,800. Brownell built and operated a store at Hix Bridge, and allowed the Noquochoke Free Masons to hold their meetings on the second floor. The masons eventually erected their own building at Hix Bridge, near the area designated as a town landing in 1717 (Worth 1934). Despite the fact that Brownell claimed to have paid Handy the agreed upon price in groceries and cash, Handy refused the conveyance. Legal proceedings between the heirs dragged on for decades, and the town finally claimed the bridge and abolished the toll in 1871. Throughout the late nineteenth century, a stone landing just south of the bridge known as Tripp’s Wharf was used to ship off much of South Westport’s farm produce (Maiocco 1995:36). The existing bridge was destroyed by the 1938 Hurricane and replaced by a cement bridge in 1939 (Maiocco 1995:39).
As transportation corridors expanded through Westport, the Hix Bridge area served as part of the stage route from New Bedford to Tiverton. Between 1842 and 1845, carriages ran from Westport Point to Hix Bridge six days a week to connect with the stage, delivering mail and other materials to and from the Point’s residents (Tripp n.d.:112).
John Avery Parker and his brother-in-law Levi Standish reportedly built several vessels near Hix Bridge between 1790 and 1792. Parker later moved to New Bedford and had another 15 ships built in Westport, although none were constructed at the Head (WHC 1987:27).
Archaeological resources associated with the development of the Hix Bridge area could include structural remains from early bridges, ferry landings, and toll houses. The reuse of historic buildings in this area could include structures that served as inns or taverns during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. A portion of the 1710 Mary Hix house on the south side of Hix Bridge Road was extensively remodeled and expanded, but was still standing in the early twentieth century (Worth 1934). The present-day Hix House includes the eighteenth century section as well as later additions. Archaeological deposits around these buildings could be somewhat different than those found at domestic residential sites, and could include food processing and disposal sites, bottle dumps, and privies, wells, and outbuildings.
In 1873, the Union Sunday School Association was established by several local churches, who appointed delegates to meet together at regular intervals. At a meeting in 1878, the delegates discussed the possibility of holding a four-day outdoor meeting and a committee was formed to select a location. Allen’s Grove (subsequently known as Cadman’s Neck, after an eighteenth century owner) was chosen and the first meeting was held in August 1878. Refreshments were supplied and families were able to rent tents for the entire meeting (Tripp n.d.:139). This type of gathering became known on the East Coast as the “camp meeting” because participants would spend several days at the revival living out of tents set up on the grounds. After the initial success, the Westport Camp Meeting Association was formed and the revival became an annual event. By 1892, 6,000 people attended the main Sunday meeting and small cottages replaced the canvas tents (Maiocco 1995:37). The annual summer meetings continued until the 1940s, when interest began to fade and the cottage occupants were more frequently wealthy New Bedford vacationers (N. Judson, personal communication 2003; Maiocco 1995).
Many of the cottages remain today on the east side of Cadman’s Neck and it is likely that archaeological evidence of the camp meeting era could be present. Although the western portion of the Neck contains modern period homes and summer cottages, it is possible that deposits associated with the earlier summer camping facilities could be located anywhere on the peninsula.
Examples of historic standing structures are located in this geopolitical zone as they are in every other section of Westport. One of the more prominent is the Handy House, built in stages beginning in the early eighteenth century. Worth (1934) suggests that the first occupants were William White and his wife Elizabeth Cadman, who built the house around 1714. Local historical sources report that the home was actually constructed by George Cadman in 1714 (Maiocco 1995). The central portion of the home was reportedly built around 1800 by Dr. Eli Handy, and the west section was added last by Eli’s son James (Worth 1934). This large structure, still standing at the intersection of Hix Bridge and Drift roads, has been continuously occupied over this period and has undergone renovations, expansions, and remodeling. Like other historic homes, evidence of former structural foundations, outbuildings, and orchards and gardens along with privies and trash dumps could be expected in the yard areas surrounding this home.
The National Register-listed Paul Cuffe Farm is located near the southern edge of this zone, at 1504 Drift Road (Greenlee 1973). The property at this address was also designated a National Historic Landmark, despite the fact that there is still some uncertainty among the town’s historians as to the exact location of Cuffe’s homestead and boatyard. Buried archaeological deposits that may be located within this property present a unique opportunity to help identify the sequence of occupation at the site and may be able to help answer questions about where Cuffe actually lived. Cuffe’s cultural heritage as an African-American and that of his Native American wife may be represented in the archaeological record by deposits that are somewhat unique from those left behind by Euro-American residents from the same period. Cuffe was a successful boatbuilder, entrepreneur and world traveler, and his homesite could be expected to contain material evidence of his occupation as well as goods collected from other parts of the world. In general, the archaeological research potential of this property is considered to be extremely high.
This area also contained several of Westport’s historic farms, located along the eastern bank of the East Branch. One of these was established in the 1880s by Scottish immigrant John Smith and became known as the Long Acre Farm. The farm produced prized potatoes and turnips in addition to cattle. In 1940, the farm was awarded a medal by the Commonwealth for growing a record crop of 613 bushels of potatoes per acre (Adams et al. 2001). After many decades of productivity by successive generations of the family, the land was finally sold and converted into the Westport Vineyards. The Boan’s Hollow Farm was located across the road and was settled by Scottish immigrant Joseph Boan in 1887. The farm raised many varieties of potatoes in addition to the town’s famous Macomber turnip (Maiocco 1995:35–36).
This section of town was not without mills, although they were generally smaller than the main operations at the Head, Westport Factory, or Adamsville. The Ricketson family built a series of mills in the gorge off Horseneck Road (WHC 1987:5). A small gristmill site was documented in this zone as part of the survey. Additional mills may be located along some of the feeder streams that drain into the East Branch from either bank.
One area of high historic period sensitivity is located along either side of Route 88 near the southern end of the South Westport Zone. Nineteenth-century maps indicate that a dispersed cluster of home and farmsteads was located in this area, accessed via lanes from Drift and Main roads. Remnants of this historic period activity can be seen today just outside of the Route 88 roadway corridor. Visible features include stone wall sections and berms within wooded areas, and the lack of modern development on either side of the highway indicates the likelihood that additional archaeological features could be present. Although many of the nineteenth-century homes and farmsteads are still occupied today, archaeological and structural evidence of their historic period use could include foundations and cellar holes, animal pens and outbuildings, remnant orchards and gardens, and abandoned cart paths and foot trails.
A potential early historic period site is a reported “Indian burial ground” located along the lower portion of Drift Road north of Westport Point (Hall and Sowle 1914:8). Although no specific reference to the location of this burial ground is provided, it is likely that residents in the area may have additional information on this site.
Westport Point, Westport Harbor, Horseneck
From a historical perspective, the Coastal Zone of Westport is best understood through the development of Westport Point. The protected harbor, broad expanses of fertile farmland, and rich fresh water and estuarine resource base was a strong incentive to the earliest Euro-American settlers. For many of the same reasons, the area also was likely a core of Contact period Native American use.
Land evidence records indicate that Native Americans occupied the area known as Acoaxet in the late seventeenth century. In 1700 Jonotus, Sam Parachus and Sue Codomoch, identified as “Indians of Little Compton,” sold a 300-acre parcel around Cockeast Pond to colonists William Southworth and John Rogers. The property description included a boundary “partly by the lands of Isaac, an Indian preacher, now deceased” and an area that was “formerly the land of Peter Quashim” and included “a parcel of meadowland formerly sold by Mannuah” (cited in Tripp n.d.:17–18). This description suggests that Christian Native Americans occupied the area around Acoaxet, and that there may have been a Native community in this part of Westport. Additional chain-of-title research could suggest the specific locations of archaeological features including domestic sites and planting fields. The identification of a Native American burial ground in this area, documented on the 1871 Beers map, supports the likelihood that additional historic period archaeological deposits and/or cemeteries could be located in this section of Westport.
Native inhabitants knew the Point as Paquachock and Horseneck Beach may come from its Algonquin designation, Hassanegk. According to one historical source, the word Hassanegk means “a house made of stone,” and that such a feature existed around the turn of the century near the western end of Horseneck Beach. The structure is described as an “old stone cellar, probably an excavation made in the hill side, lined with field stone and roofed over” (Hall and Sowle 1914:9). While some accounts suggest that the beach was named for its resemblance to the shape of a horse’s head, the authors suggest the connection with the stone structure. Whether this feature was associated with Native or early Euro-American activity on the coast is unclear. The exact location of this feature is also unknown. It is highly probable that although it was visible in the early part of the twentieth century, coastal storms including the Hurricane of 1938 may well have destroyed all or part of the structure.
The Point area was settled and laid out as farms by the early 1700s, primarily by the Gifford and Macomber families. The prime harbor location of the town quickly resulted in the development of Main Road along what was likely a pre-existing Native American trail, and led to the construction of a landing and ferry in 1712. Wharves and maritime activities were concentrated on the common lands of the Point and Horseneck throughout most of the eighteenth century. One of the earliest buildings on the wharf was completed around 1740 on what was then the estate of William Howland. Portions of this building remain in use today as a fish market (Maiocco 1995:44).
Early residents made use of the nearby protected islands on the Westport River for farming and pasture. Extant records for Linniken Island, located north of the Horseneck dunes, indicate that these resources were actively used by local residents during the eighteenth century. Town residents also used Gooseberry Neck and the entire Horseneck peninsula for pasture long before summer tourism came to Westport (N. Judson, personal communication 2003) (see Chapter 5).
During the Revolution, small privateer vessels used Westport Harbor as a base of operations . The complicated network of sandbars and islands made it all but impossible for anyone but an experienced local pilot to navigate the harbor and, once in the harbor, American vessels were easily masked by the high dunes of Horseneck Beach. This combination of factors did not completely shield the Point from British attack, but it did discourage the military from landing troops in the area.
Members of the Macomber family, one of the founding families of Westport, were farmers in this portion of town. A family settlement core developed at Macombers Corner at the intersection of Sodom and Adamsville roads in addition to a primary farm on Main Road at Westport Point (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). One of the family’s notable contributions to agriculture was the development of the Macomber turnip, a variety that was whiter and sweeter than the yellow turnip (Smith et al. 1976). Other eighteenth- and nineteenth-century farms located in this section of town produced dairy and agricultural products that were initially distributed locally and moved greater distances as transportation networks improved. Archaeological resources associated with the area’s historic farmsteads could include domestic structures as well as features such as stone wall field boundaries and animal pens, barns, and other outbuildings, and deposits of machinery and other equipment abandoned after use. Several mid-nineteenth century cranberry operations were also present in the Horseneck Beach area and elements of these agricultural businesses could survive.
Fishing, whaling, and coastal trading dominated the economy of Westport from 1770 to 1870, and promoted the growth of related industries at the Point. The earliest commercial use of the harbor was likely associated with the codfish industry. Large drying platforms were erected on the docks to process fish collected between Nantucket and Newfoundland. Saltworks located on the east side of the Point utilized a complex of pipes, evaporation vats, and sheds to process seawater. Several windmills were located at the southeastern end of the Point and helped pump water from the harbor into the processing tanks. Whaling became the main focus of the Point in the mid-nineteenth century, with as many as 20 or 30 vessels at a time working out of the harbor (Hall and Sowle 1914:37).
Once whaling began to catch on in the early nineteenth century, activity at the point became even more focused around the wharves. In 1829, Isaac Palmer operated a store, sail loft, and tavern at the Point. Other improvements during this period included Lee’s Wharf, constructed about 1800 by the Mayhew family and enlarged in 1830; Almy’s Wharf, built by one of the oldest and most prominent families in Westport, and; Cory’s Wharf, built by the Davis family and sold to Isaac Cory in 1806. The Paquachuck Inn at the Point also dates to the period of Westport’s whaling heyday (Maiocco 1995:45).
At least one shipyard operated at the Point during the nineteenth century. Frank Sisson and Eli Allen built the Kate Cory for A.H. Cory at a shipyard east of the town landing. This vessel was later turned into a brig and was burned off the coast of Africa by the Alabama (N. Judson, personal communication 2003). This yard also produced the whaleship Mermaid for Westporter Andrew Hicks. Other ships used previously for fishing were re-outfitted for use in the whaling industry. The Amy and Paul was one of these vessels, and sailed for the whaling grounds around 1825 (Hall and Sowle 1914:27).
As whaling began to dominate the economy of Westport Point during the early nineteenth century, the Cory family capitalized on the lucrative market by establishing a store that served as a supply storage post, Custom House, post office, and retail outlet for sailors and residents. Other prominent merchant and sailing families of this time include the Mayhew, Davis, and Hicks clans. The Thomas Mayhew House (ca. 1827), located at 2018 Main Road, is a Federal style structure representative of the wealth and power enjoyed by these early-nineteenth-century commercial barons.
In the wake of this booming commercial economy, more residential structures were constructed. The Westport Point cemetery was established ca. 1810 in response to this increasing population. Originally the property of the town and loosely associated with neighboring Methodist Church, it holds the remains of several of the Point’s most prominent eighteenth- and nineteenth-century families and also includes excellent examples of nineteenth-century masonry funeral art. A stage line was established in 1840 between the Point and New Bedford and operated for 60 years, providing easier passage for the increasingly affluent Westport Point residents to the urban hub to the east (Hall and Sowle 1914).
Summer resort activity in the coastal zone did not become extensive until the 1870s, when wealthy Fall River factory owners and professionals began to settle on large estates and summer colonies near the shore. The largest of these colonies, located near the southwestern corner of town, became known as Acoaxet. In addition to huge “cottages,” the development of the summer community led to the construction of casinos, bathhouses, boarding hotels and recreational facilities that catered to the insular group. So physically and socially isolated was this group that in the 1920s, Acoaxet attempted to secede and form a new town. The wealthy homeowners felt that they contributed more tax dollars than other town residents and did not benefit from community services focused around the main village centers. Despite the attempt, the issue was voted down at Town Meeting in 1926 and Acoaxet remained part of the original town (Maiocco 1995:62–63).
Gooseberry Island remained relatively undeveloped throughout the historic period and could have been occupied by Native American residents over the Contact Period. Summer visitors and residents could walk to the spit of land at low tide but were often trapped when the tide came back in. The construction of a stone causeway in 1924 connected Gooseberry Island to Horseneck Beach and in the 1930s the Army constructed an Artillery Fire Control base on the peninsula as part of a coastal defense system. Remnants of the military occupation remain today in this conservation area, including portions of the observation towers, barracks, and supply sheds. Following the war, Gooseberry Neck was briefly run as a campground and casino. Today it is included as part of the Horseneck Beach State Reservation (Begley 1998).
This area along Westport’s shoreline had been heavily developed through the 1930s, lined with summer homes, hotels, groceries, and even a bowling alley. The 1938 Hurricane destroyed the entire beachfront community, wiping out virtually every structure that stood along the coast. One structure that is still standing is a lifeboat station at Horseneck Beach that was used in the nineteenth century. Although this building is in need of extensive repair, it provides documentation of the former character of the beachfront area (Macomber 2003). Subsequent development was limited and while remnants of this summer community may remain, it is likely that the combination of waves and wind destroyed most of the historic period deposits associated with the pre-1938 use of the land. The creation of the Horseneck Beach area as a state reservation occurred in the 1950s and led to the construction of Route 88 as an access road for summer visitors.
The Westport Point Area is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a district under Criteria A and C, and includes 233 contributing buildings, structures, and objects across 86 acres that comprise the historic core of the village (Wertz et al. 1992). Inventoried structures include residential, commercial, civic and industrial buildings related to all periods of the Point’s historic development. A second inventoried area located in this zone is the Westport Harbor Area. This area includes many of the historic private summer homes located in Acoaxet as well as several public and private buildings related to historic period community activities (MHC files).
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.