USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Salem > The history of Salem, Massachusetts, vol 1, 1924 > Part 2
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GLACIAL ACTION.
The topography of this region-its hills, ponds and level areas-is largely traceable to formations of the glacial period. In many places the bed-rock exhibits the striæ of glacial movement, the most remarkable example being a groove, thirty feet long, more than a yard wide and five inches deep, in a hornblende diorite ledge beside the carriage road in Ledge Hill Park, in Salem. In the groove and on the ledge beside it are long, deep scratches, fine striæ and chatter marks. A typical ice-contact, with alluvium filling in the front of a glacier, is well represented in the formation of the kame topography known as the dungeons on the south side of Forest River, in Marblehead.1 Ridges, called eskers, composed chiefly of boulders, coarse gravel and sand, the result of glacial action, are prominent surface features; and in the vicinity of Beaver Pond, in Beverly, are some extraordinary specimens of these formations.
1This formation was caused by detached bergs of ice which became buried in the outwash gravel, leaving steep-sided holes when the ice melted.
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HISTORY OF SALEM
KETTLE HOLE, MARBLEHEAD.
There are many great boulders upon elevations of bed-rock, having been deposited there as the huge fields of ice moved across these immovable protuberances. The largest and most noted of these boulders is Ship rock, in Peabody. It is composed of horn-
SHIP ROCK, PEABODY.
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NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
blende granite, and measures forty-five feet in length and twenty- two feet in height. It stands upon the brow of a steep hill, on a ledge which is about one hundred feet above sea level.1 In the woods of Manchester, on a high elevation of granite, is Agassiz rock,2 another great boulder, which is cubical in shape and
AGASSIZ ROCK, MANCHESTER.
measures about fifteen feet on each side. Its position is one of its most interesting features. One of its edges rests upon the ledge,
1Ship rock was so called as early as 1708 (Essex Registry of Deeds, book 26, leaf 40). It was conveyed to the Essex County Historical Society Nov. 3, 1847 (Essex Registry of Deeds, book 390, leaf 19), and upon the establishment of the Essex Institute, by the union of the Essex County Historical Society with the Essex County Natural History Society, in 1848, it became the property of the Essex Institute. An iron ladder enables the visitor to go readily to the top, from which an extended view of the sea is obtained. Some say that the name was derived from its resemblance to a ship; and tradition is that it was so called because it was used by pirates to watch the movements of vessels going in and out of the harbors along the shore.
2Prof. Louis Agassiz visited this boulder about sixty years ago, and expressed a good deal of interest in it. It was then called Sunset rock. At
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HISTORY OF SALEM
WIGWAM ROCK, PEABODY.
it being raised nearly three feet on the opposite side of its base and held there by a wedge-shaped stone. Wigwamn rock,1 on Summit Street, in Peabody, is shaped like a three-sided pyramid, resembling a tent. Each of its lines measures about fourteen feet.
THE BUTTS, PEABODY.
a field meeting of the Essex Institute, held at Manchester Oct. 2, 1874, it was voted that the boulder be thereafter known as Agassiz rock.
1Wigwam rock is so called in the records in 1652 (Essex Registry of Deeds, book I, leaf 15).
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NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
The Butts1 is a boulder, also in Peabody, in Tapley's brook, near the junction of Washington, Lynn and Lynnfield streets.
MINERALS.
Of the useful minerals in this section, clay has always been important. Here was the beginning of the brickmaking and earthenware industries of New England; and the locality has always been noted therefor. Most of the bricks produced here have been made in Danvers and Salem, and the earthenware in Beverly, Salem and Peabody. In a brick-clay pit at Danversport the clay is eighteen feet deep below the level of the adjoining marsh ; and a deposit on Liberty Street in the same locality is over forty feet thick. On Bridge Street, in Salem, near Beverly bridge, it is seventy-two feet thick.
The principal quarries of the region are in Peabody, and they yield a profitable income. The hornblende granite is the most valuable, being easily rifted and readily worked into excellent building stone. It is also capable of a fine polish. The beds of granite in that section extend northerly to Danvers, and south-' easterly to Marblehead Neck. Another section of granite outcrops is in Danvers and Wenham, and still another is in Beverly and Manchester.
On both sides of Nichols brook, which flows into Ipswich River, are several outcrops of red granite, boulders of which are often seen in the boulder-till of Beverly and Danvers. One out- crop is quite massive, and stands at an elevation of one hundred and twenty feet.
Graphite is found in Danvers and Middleton, nickel in the augite syenite at Poor-house Hill and chalcedony at Prospect Hill, in Beverly.
Thomas Morton, in his New English Canaan, wrote, relative to minerals which were found here by the first settlers, "first of the Marble for building ; whereof there is much in those parts, in so much there is one bay in the land that beareth the name of Marble harber, because of the Plenty of Marble there."2
Of the minerals in this neighborhood, William Wood wrote,8 in 1634, "that it is reported there is Iron stone; and the Indians informe us that they can leade us to the mountaines of blacke Lead, and have showne us lead ore, if our small judgement in such things doe not deceive us: and though no body dare confidently conclude, yet dare they not utterly deny, but that the Spaniards
1The Butts were so called as early as 1638. In the early days the logs or wood floating down the brook above were held back by this boulder, and this fact gave it its name.
2New English Canaan, by Thomas Morton, page 83.
3New Englands Prospect, chapter V.
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HISTORY OF SALEM
blisse may lye hid in the barren Mountaines, such as have coasted the countrey affirme that they know where to fetch Sea-cole if wood were scant ; there is plenty of stone both rough and smooth, usefull for many things, with quarries of Slate, out of which they get covering for houses, with good clay, whereof they make Tiles and Brickes, and pavements for their necessary uses.
Capt. John Smith wrote, in 1631: "For the building houses, townes, and fortresses, where shall a man finde conveniency, as stones of most sorts, as well lime stone, if I be not much deceived. as Iron stone, smooth stone, blew slate for covering houses, and great rockes we supposed Marble, so that one place is called mar- ble harbour."1
VEGETATION.
The upland soil is of various depths, and the underlying strata consists of formations of gravel, sand, clay, etc .? According to a writer at the time of the first settlement, in some places the soil or black mould is over a foot deep, and so fertile that the vegetation is rank ;3 and the woods are "accounted better ground than the Forrests of England or woodland ground, or heathy plaines. . This ground is in some places of a soft mould, and easie to plow ; in other places so tough and hard, that I have seene ten Oxen toyled, their Iron chaines broken, and their Shares and Coulters much strained: But after the first breaking up it is so easie, that two Oxen and a Horse may plow it.""
Forests were almost universal on hill and plain when the first planters came, and there were open spaces of upland as well as lowland where grass grew. Some of the islands were heavily wooded, and others free from trees. Rev. Francis Higginson, teacher of the church in Salem, wrote,8 in 1629, that "though all the Countrey bee as it were a thicke Wood for the generall, yet in diuers places there is much ground cleared by the Indians, and especially about the Plantation." Where the forests were thickly grown the timber was straight and tall, and the lowest branches of many of the trees were thirty feet from the ground." Under- growth was rare except in the swamps. Forest trees were of many kinds," the principal one being oak,6 of which there were four
1Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England, &c., by Capt. John Smith, 1631, page 26.
2 At first New England was regarded in England as a most barren rocky desert .- Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England, Etc., page 12.
3New Englands Prospect, chapter IV.
4The name of Forest River is suggestive of forests upon its banks.
"New Englands Plantation, by Rev. Francis Higginson, 1629.
6A Description of New England, by Capt. John Smith, 1616, page 39.
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NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
varieties. Pine came next in quantity, and then walnut, chestnut, ash, beech, maple, spruce, fir, cypress, birch, cedar,1 willow, juniper and elm.2 Among the fruit trees were mulberry and plum trees ; and alder, hawthorne, hazel, osier, aspen, sassafras and sumach were among the smaller trees and shrubs.
Grass grew in every open area, as Rev. Francis Higginson wrote," from Salem, in 1629, "verie thicke, verie long, and verie high ; but it groweth verie wildly with a great stalke and a broad and ranker blade because it neuer had been eaten with cattle, nor mowed with a Sythe and seldome trampled on by foot." The salt marshes and fresh meadows were covered with grass, which the cattle readily ate.'
Native edible vegetables were of a number of varieties, as leeks, onions, turnips, parsnips and carrots. They were of con-
1Along the ocean front, the locality on both sides of Sallow's brook, in Beverly, was called "Cedar stand" as early as 1636. The name seems to indicate the presence of many cedars.
2"The Wallnut tree is something different from the English Wallnut, being a great deale more tough, and more serviceable, and altogether as heavie : and whereas our Gunnes that are stocked with English Wallnut, are soone broaken and cracked in frost, being a brittle Wood; we are driven to stocke them new with the Country Wallnut, which will indure all blowes, and weather; lasting time out of minde. These trees beare a very good Nut, something smaller, but nothing inferior in sweetnesse and goodnesse to the
English Nut, having no bitter pill. The Cedar tree is a tree of no great growth, not bearing above a foot and a halfe square at the most, neither is it very high. This wood is more desired for ornament than substance, being of colour red and white like Eugh, smelling as sweete as Iuniper.
For that countrey Ash, it is much different from the Ash of England, being brittle and good for little, so that Wallnut is used for it. The Horne- bound tree is a tough kind of Wood, that requires so much paines in riving as is almost incredible. This tree growing with broad spread Armes, the vines winde their curling branches about them."-New Englands Prospect.
New Englands Plantation.
4The fresh meadows grew "as much grasse, as may be throwne out with a Sithe, thicke and long, as high as a mans middle; some as high as the shoulders, so that a good mower may cut three loads in a day. But many object, this is but a course fodder : True it is, that it is not so fine to the eye as English grasse, but it is not sowre, though it grow thus ranke; but being made into Hay, the Cattle eate it as well as it were Lea-hay and like as well with it. Furthermore, whereas it hath beene generally reported in many places of England, that the Grasse growes not in those places where it was cut the fore-going yeares, it is a meere falsehood; for it growes as well the ensuing Spring as it did before, and is more spiery and thicke, like our English Grasse: and in such places where the Cattle use to graze, the ground is much improved in the Woods, growing more grassie, and lesse weedy. The worst that can be sayd against the meddow-grounds, is because there is little edish or after-pasture, which may proceede from the late mowing, more than from any thing else; but though the edish be not worth much, yet is there such plenty of other Grasse and feeding, that there is no want of Winter-fodder till December, at which time men beginne to house their milch-cattle and Calves."-New Englands Prospect.
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HISTORY OF SALEM
siderable size and flavor. £ Pumpkins,1 gourds, muskmelons, watermelons, cucumbers2 and some other vegetables were common. Besides the plums and mulberries already mentioned, cornel ber- ries, cherries, gooseberries and currants, bilberries, blueberries, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, huckleberries and strawberries were common, the latter being abundant. Beans and peas are mentioned by the early writers, as though they grew wild, but probably they were found in cultivation among the Indians in association with maize. Many excellent pot-herbs grew wild in abundance amongst the grass and in the woods, as strawberry leaves, winter savory, brook-lime and water cresses ; pennyroyal, yarrow, sarsaparilla, liverwort and several other kinds of medi- cinal herbs; besides an abundance of bay, sweet marjoram and other sweet herbs, and sweet single damask roses.3 Hemp and
1These were early called "pompions."
2These were early called "cow-combers."
3There was growing "all manner of Hearbes for meate, and medicine, and that not onely in planted Gardens, but in the Woods, without eyther the art or the helpe of man, as sweet Marjoram, Purselane, Sorrell, Peneriall, Yarrow, Mirtle, Saxifarilla, Bayes, &c. There is likewise Strawberries in abundance, very large ones, some being two inches about ; In other seasons there bee Gooseberries, Bilberies, Resberries, Treackleberies, Hurtle- those that our Grocers sell in England: This land likewise affoards Hempe and Flax, some naturally, and some planted by the English, with Rapes if they bee well managed. [The Hornebound tree] growing with broad spread Armes, the vines winde their curling branches about them; which vines affoard great store of grapes, which are very big both for the grape and cluster, sweet and good; These be of two sorts, red and white, there is likewise a smaller kind of grape, which groweth in the Islands which is sooner ripe and more delectable; so that there is no knowne reason why as good wine may not be made in those parts, as well as in Burdeuax.
The Cherrie trees yeeld great store of [choke?] Cherries, which grow on clusters like grapes ; they be much smaller than our English cherries, nothing neare so good if they be not very ripe; they so furre the mouth that the tongue will cleave to the roofe, and the throate wax horse with swallowing those red Bullies (as I may call them,) being little better in taste. English ordering may bring them to be an English Cherrie, but yet they are as wilde as the Indians. The Plummes of the Countrey be better for Plummes than the Cherries be for Cherries, they be blacke and yellow about the bignesse of a Damson, of a reasonably good taste. The white thorne affords hawes as bigge as an English Cherrie, which is esteemed above a Cherrie for his goodnesse and pleasantnesse to the taste."-New Englands Prospect.
Capt. John Smith, in "A Description of New England," wrote, in 1616: "The hearbes and fruits are of many sorts and kindes: at alkermes [not a fruit?], currans, or a fruit like currans, mulberries, vines, respices, goose- berries, plummes, walnuts, chesnuts, small nuts, &c. pumpions, gourds, strawberries, beans, peas, and mayze : a kinde or two of flax."
Rev. Francis Higginson, in New Englands Plantation, wrote from Salem, in 1629, that "wee abound with such things . as muckmillions, watermillions, Indian pompions, Indian pease, beanes, and many other odde fruits that I cannot name. Excellent vines are here up and downe in the woods. Also, mulberries, plums, raspberries, corrance,
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NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
flax grew in considerable quantity, producing a fibre from which good cordage and cloth were made.
Of nuts, the earliest settlers found the chestnut, filbert or hazel and large and small walnuts.
The botany of the regions bordering on the sea-shore is much more varied and interesting than that inland, on account of the diversity of soil and situation. Here were the open country, deep woods and swamps as well as the shore ; the algæ of the ocean and of the fresh water pond; the plants of the salt marsh and of the fresh meadow. Though the hills are not very high, Salem lies just within the limits of the northern flora. The algæ of the sea is also that of the Arctic ocean ; and is beautiful in color and form, as well as useful. In the early settlement few knew of its beauty, but all had learned of dulse, rockweed, Irish moss, kelp, etc., and it all was to them simply "sea-weed."
ANIMALS.
The forest was the home of large numbers and many kinds of beasts, birds and reptiles. The bear was one of the heavier animals. Its flesh was regarded as being better than venison ; and its skin furnished excellent outer clothing. The fur was black. Bears were fierce in strawberry time, when their offspring were young ; but they never preyed upon the English cattle nor attacked any person except in self defence. Indeed this was true, generally, of all of the wild animals, and the early settlers could roam in safety through the woods. In the winter, bears lived among the rocks and in thick swamps where they were sheltered from the cold, and would have been very numerous had not wolves killed them for food.
Several varieties of deer, the largest being the moose,1 ranged the woods, and would have been abundant, as they were good breeders, had they not been the prey of wolves. Their flesh was good for food, and their hides furnished excellent material for clothing. The common deer were found in greatest numbers near the sea-shore in the winter season. Apparently, they sought the water at that time for protection from the wolves, as when chased
hurtle berries, and hawes of white thorne neere as good as our cherries in England, they grow in plentie here."
1William Wood wrote in his New Englands Prospect, chapter VI, in 1634, that moose were "headed like a Bucke, with a broade beame, some being two yards wide in the head. . The English have some thoughts of keeping them tame, and to accustome them to the yoake, which will be a great commoditie; First because they are so fruitfull, bringing forth three at a time, being likewise very uberous. Secondly, because they will live in winter without any fodder."
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HISTORY OF SALEM
they swam to the islands. They were fat even in winter, when they were most frequently caught. Venison was much liked, and deer were thus very helpful in supplying the larders of the old planters.
The greatest enemy that the settlers had among the animals was the wolf, which preyed upon the cattle as well as many of the defenceless and useful wild animals. The wolves generally trav- eled and hunted in packs of ten or twelve. Their prolonged howls, late at night, or in the early morning, calling their com- panions together, always tended to produce terror in both man and beast, though in the early days they were never known to attack men or women, nor horses and cows. But they preyed upon swine, goats and red calves. . They probably supposed that the latter were deer. This was so general that red calves were cheaper than black ones. Wolves were most troublesome in late autumn and early spring, when they followed the deer to and from the shore.1
Besides the common fox, the black variety was sometimes caught, their fur being much esteemed.2 The shiny black fur of the otter, which also inhabited the fresh waters, was sought by the traders in furs more than any other. The flesh of the otter was hardly desirable as food, but oil produced therefrom was useful in many ways. The fur of the beaver was also in great demand. The English rarely killed beaver, not being sufficiently patient, and all skins of that kind obtained in the earlier days were secured by the Indians who had had long experience in their capture.3
The raccoon4 was another thick-furred beast of the woods, its meat being esteemed as equal to lamb. They slept in hollow trees in the daytime, and on moonlit nights went to the tidal flats when the water was low to dig and feed on clams. At such times, the old planters hunted them with dogs. The red-eyed ferret, skunk and martin and the musquash were small fur-bearing animals whose pelts were also sought.
The wild cat was one of the dreaded denizens of the forest. It was about as large as an ordinary dog, and its nature fierce. It was more dangerous to meet than any other creature, fearing neither dog nor man. The English killed many of these animals,
1Wolf island, in Wenham great swamp, was probably a favorite resort of these animals.
2Foxes were troublesome as early as 1660, when bounties were paid by Salem for their destruction.
3Beaver brook, in Danvers, and Beaver Pond, in Beverly, suggests the presence of beaver here in the early days. Beaver Pond was so called as early as 1642; and dams were early constructed by the beavers in Danvers and Manchester.
4The name of Raccoon swamp, in Beverly, and Raccoon rocks, in Man- chester, suggest their presence.
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NATURAL CHARACTERISTICS
and the species has now become extinct. Their skins had thick fur, spotted white and black under the body.1
The porcupine was also found. It was small, similar to and a little larger than the English hedgehog, which, as William Wood wrote," "stands upon his guard and proclaimss a Noli me tangere, to man and beast, that shall approach too neare him, darting his quills into their legges, and hides." The brown rabbit and large white purblind hare were common, and squirrels skipped about everywhere. Of the latter, there were three varieties, the large grey, small red and flying squirrel.
Birds and fowls, both land and water varieties, were very plentiful. The English settlers found all the kinds they had known in their homeland and many that were new to them. The largest birds were the eagles,3 with white heads and tails, the larger of them being called gripes. Their prey were ducks4 and geese and fish that were cast upon the sea-shore. There were several kinds of sea and land hawks," their prey being fish, héns, ducks and partridges. Turkeys were abundant, and larger than those in England, being fat, and having plenty of food all the year through, as strawberries and other berries, fruits and acorns. Sometimes they went in flocks of some four score ; and were often killed and eaten. They did not migrate, and in winter, when snow covered the ground, they resorted to the sea-shore at low tide for shrimps and similar small fish. Their feathers were black, but their meat was white. Pheasants were rare, heathcock and partridges com- mon and pigeons and wild geese, ducks and teel abundant. The geese were of the white and gray varieties, and the brant.6 6 The white geese came from the north in great flocks about October, sometimes two or three thousand in a flock. After stopping about six weeks, they flew south, returning in March and staying about six weeks more, returning again to the northward. The great gray geese, with black necks and black and white heads, strong in flight, migrated as regularly as the white variety and remained away from October to April. They fed on fish and acorns.
Cormorants, which were common, greedily destroyed great 1
1Several localities recall the wild cats, as Cat brook, in Manchester, Cat swamp, in Beverly, and Cat Cove, at Salem Neck. Cat Cove was so called in 1638, and Cat swamp in 1658.
"New Englands Prospect, chapter VI.
"The name of Eagle head, in Manchester, suggests that high rocky promontory as the place of an eyrie.
*Crane River, in Danvers, was called Duck River in 1632.
5William Wood wrote in New Englands Prospect, in 1634, that a "certaine blacke Hawke that beates" the eagle was "much prized of the Indians, being accounted a Sagamores ransome."
"There be likewise many Swannes which frequent the fresh ponds and rivers, seldome consorting themselves with Duckes and Geese."-New Eng- lands Prospect.
1
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HISTORY OF SALEM
quantities of small fish ; but they were not worth shooting, as the rank and fishy taste of their meat made them undesirable for food. Cranes were common in the summer season, but migrated winters.1 Loons, gulls, bittern and hern were in considerable numbers.
Owls were of two kinds, one being small and speckled like a partridge, and the other almost as large as an cagle. Their meat was as good as that of the partridge. The uncanny cry of the screech-owl was ominous to the early settlers.
Blackbirds, or stares, were larger than those in England, and as black as crows, being the most troublesome and injurious of the birds, pulling up the young corn by the roots, especially near reedy or sedgy localities, which they frequented. They feared neither guns nor the bodies of their fellows suspended upon poles in the field. Crows, ravens and thrushes, including robins, the swift-winged swallows and beautiful little humming-birds, sought a welcome from the first settlers.
The waters, both salt and fresh, ocean, bay, river and pond, abounded with fish in great variety.2 There were seals, or sea calves, the skins of which were useful, and oil extracted from their bodies was burned in the lamps of the settlers. Sharks3 were taken, but never used except as fertilizer. Sturgeon, skate, thorn- back, haddock, hake, mullet, shad and herring were abundant. Salmon was one of the most common fishes, being found in the rivers as well as in the bay.1 Halibut were sometimes two yards long and a foot thick." The heads and fins were most desired as food, being stewed or baked. The chief fish of commerce, how- ever, was cod, which were of large size. Here were also frost- fish, smelts and catfish in abundance. The flesh of bass was delicate and sweet and most desirable for continuous consumption. They were sometimes three or four feet in length ; and the settlers salted them for winter use.3 When alewives passed up the rivers bass were caught in the streams, in lobster time at the rocks, in
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