TAHG Day 13

The day dawned cloudy, breezy, and a blissfully cool.  Every place we went today was warmer inside than it was outside.  I like these kinds of days!

Minute Man National Historic Site tells the story of Paul Revere’s ride from Boston to Concord to warn the various towns that the British were coming to attack by sea.  He hung two lanterns in the Old North Church steeple to let the residents know the British would be there by morning and then rode inland to raise the alarm.  We walked across the bridge where the ‘shot heard ‘round the world’ was fired, beginning the start of the Revolutionary War. The other day I bought a shirt with a quote from Benjamin Franklin on it, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.”  Yes, indeedy.

Industrial Revolution era technology intrigues me because global culture and economy made a huge shift from hand crafts to machinery.  We toured a mill name Boott Mill in Lowell, MA this afternoon.  It’s now a national park and tells the stories of mill workers from 1823 up until WWI.  The mill culture shift was incredible.  Up until the Civil War, it was almost cool to go off and work in the mills, at least up here in New England.  The hours were kept decent, the boarding houses clean, and the conditions as safe as possible.  With the war, everything changed as profits dropped from a lack of cotton import from the South.  Immigrants began moving to the area, and they would work for less pay and longer hours. Before long, the mills weren’t the happening place.  Disease was rampant from the workers blowing germs onto the thread shuttles.  Over 85 machines would be running at once.  I heard the noise of 12 of the weavers today; 85 would have been unbearable.  It took World War I to truly begin factory reform in Lowell.  I can’t imagine having to live like that just to survive. 

During the workshop portion of our mill tour, we pretended to be on an assembly line.  Our product was tea towels, and we used brown butcher paper, ink, and stamps to make them.  We had a blast, but I know it wasn’t really a fun job.  We also got to sit at old wooden looms and weave patterns.  Again, not an easy task, but one I really appreciated.  

We arrived in Boston right at rush hour, but I love driving through it.  Unlike D.C. and London, Boston is not a town I’d want to live in, but I very much enjoy visiting.  My first trip to Boston was 9 ½ years ago with my mom and there was 4” of snow on the ground.  It’s a bit different this time, and I love seeing everything from the lens of a warm season. 

Joe’s American Bar and Grill was recommended for dinner, and I’m glad some of us walked down to it.  Apparently reservations are required, but we were able to get a table anyway.  I’m on a seafood kick while I’m in town, so tonight was all about crabcakes.  Yum!