ACADEMY-HIGH SCHOOL. 355 Centre school house, which was well patronized, and was carried on with some efficiency. The Great Barrington Academy, erected in 1841, by an association of citizens, incorporated for that purpose, was first placed in charge of the late James Sedgwick, who continued as its principal for eight or nine years, but eventually removed to Alabama. It was afterwards superintended for several years by a number of different teachers, without proving very successful, and was finally converted into a dwellinghouse, the same in which Wallace W. Langdon now resides. Mr. Sedgwick--the former preceptor of the academy-returned from Alabama in 1854, and instituted a boarding school for boys in the old Episcopal parsonage, and soon after erected the Sedgwick Institute, in the south part of the village, to which he removed his school, which he continued to his decease in 1865. This institution which has since been con ducted by several different proprietors, is now carried on by Mr. E. J. Van Lennep. The High School. Until 1868, the town had never maintained a school of higher grade than that of the ordinary common school. In that year-April 13th-it was voted to establish and maintain a High School, and $2,000 was raised for the purpose. This school was soon after opened in the Center school-house, where it remained until the completion of the High School building, erected in 1869, at a cost of about $15,000. From that time the principals of the school have been: William H. Blodget, spring term, 1868; George W. Todd, 1868–71; Charles C. Barton, 1871; E. C. Dudley, spring term of 1872; Harry H. Scott, 1872, to his decease in March, 1877; H. J. Chase, 1877–78; F. A. Hosmer, 1878, the present principal. For the support of the High School the town has, of late years, raised annually, the sum of $3,000. CHAPTER XXV. EARLY INDUSTRIES-MERCHANTS-THE POST OFFICE At the beginning of the present century a large part of the township was still covered with the original forest. Fine tracts of white pine timber existed in various sections, particularly in the vicinity of Seekonk and Long Pond, though not confined to any locality. The plain lands in the west and north parts of the town abounded in yellow pine. At an earlier period, in clearing up the lands, vast quantities of timber were cut and burned upon the ground. Lumber was plenty and cheap. Saw mills were numerous. It is said that in 1818, there were no less than fourteen saw mills in town, and all in running order. Columbia county, N. Y., furnished the principal market for lumber, staves and heading; but the supply was always in excess of the demand. The nearest point of water communication was on the Hudson River, beyond Claverack—the old Claverack Landing, near Hudson-and the outlet for South Berkshire produce was in this direction to the New York market; for New York was at a very early period the market for the surplus production of the farmers of this region. Singular as it may seem, in 1764-5 Captain Truman Wheeler transported boards from this town to Claverack, which were thence shipped by vessels to New York. And before the Revolution fat cattle were driven from here to the New York market. The abundance of wood, and consequently of ashes, gave rise to the manufacture of potash, which was long one of the staple products of the town. There were here several small establishments for the manufacture of this article. One of these, owned about 1790 by Moses Hopkins, Esq., stood in the door-yard, north of the house of Ralph Taylor; another of the same or earlier date, belonged to Doctor William Whiting and was located on Castle street; Colonel Elijah Dwight, too, was engaged in the same manufacture, and is supposed to have had his works on the south side of the school-house lane, where the building-afterwards used for a hay press-is still remembered. In 1770, Doctor William Whiting, by special vote of the town, was permitted to erect works for the manufacture of earthenware, within the limits of the highway opposite his dwelling-house-the Doctor C. T. Collins place. No tradition of these works is preserved; but it is evident, from the books of Doctor Whiting, that he had large quantities of earthen ware, and dealt in it extensively in that year; and he is also known to have had a "potter" named Gray, in his employ. We have no doubt that the pottery was built and operated; but it was perhaps an enterprise which did not succeed. The production of wool and flax were important branches of agriculture, and before the innovations of machinery, and the substitution of cotton for flax, these were spun and woven into fabrics in the households of the inhabitants. The hetchels, cards, and spinning wheels were in constant employ, and many families were provided with looms for the weaving of both wool and flax. The woolen fabric, fulled and finished at the fulling mill, furnished the clothing for men and boys; and "homespun" was the dress of nearly all classes at the beginning of this century. By the introduction of the carding machine a great change in the labor of preparing wool for the spinning was effected. The first machine of this kind, is said to have been set up here by Booth & Gibbs. Thomas Ives and Dudley Woodworth erected a building and put in wool carding machinery at their works in Water street, in or about the year 1803. This was in operation until about 1837. The first fulling mill of the town was on the Green River, where the Kellogg grist-mill stands. Here Dan iel Rathbun established the business of fulling and cloth dressing as early as 1760. These works were operated by Major John Kellogg during and after the Revolution, and still later for many years by his son, the late John Kellogg. Shoemakers itinerated from house to house carrying the bench and kit of tools on their backs, and sitting down for a week or more in the farmer's kitchen, provided his family with a six months supply of shoes. This was called " whipping the cat." The trades of shoe making and tanning were in some degree identical; the shoe-maker in some instances carrying on tanning on a small scale. Such was the case with "Wise" Isaac Van Deusen, who, 1785-1800, occupying the Misses Kellogg house, had his shop just north of the brook in Mrs. McLean's door-yard, and his tan-vats in rear of the Frederick Lawrence house in the hollow. Samuel Riley, too, whom we have mentioned, united tanning with shoe-making on the Doctor W. H. Parks place. Robert Kilborn and Major Samuel Rosseter were tanners on a more extended scale, both for home consumption and the New York market. The latter connected with tanning the manufacture of "stock shoes"—men's brogans. At a later day Caspar Hollenbeck erected a tannery at the foot of Monument Mountain; having first served an apprenticeship under Major Rosseter. Charles W. Hopkins-also an apprentice of Major Rosseter-in connection with Deacon Allen Henderson, had a tannery as early as 1809, above the bridge, near the residence of James H. Beckwith. He afterwards—later than 1820-built, and for many years carried on tanworks where the factory stands in Water street; and Deacon Henderson, removing to the Henderson house, with his shop in the basement, became the principal saddler of the town. Tinkers traveled from village to village and house to house equipped with soldering iron, spoon moulds and button moulds, doing all sorts of repairing and mending, and casting pewter spoons and buttons for the people. The hatters of the last century were Joseph and Elias Gilbert, and Major Thomas Ingersoll. About the year 1801, came Timothy Arnold, with his brothers Fenner and Elisha. They bought the Misses Kellogg place, and Timothy established himself as a hatter. His shop was in the building (previously occupied by "Wise" Isaac Van Deusen) which stood in Mrs. McLean's door-yard. The Arnolds afterwards built the McLean house. Timothy Arnold, and his shop, is still well remembered, as well as the long row of hat bodies put out to dry on sunny mornings, occupying every fourth picket of the fence in front of his premises. Arnold was a bachelor, with a taste for the comical, which was shared by his apprentices, and his shop was the headquarters for fun and frolic, the rendezvous of the wags and fox hunters of the town. The shop itself, a long, low building-in the improvements of the premises, made by David Ives, forty years ago—was removed to Castle street, and converted into a dwelling-long occupied by the Moore family-but has since given place to a more tasteful structure. Blacksmithing was an important calling, for the smith was the fabricator of the door-trimmings and nails used in building, of many of the utensils in household use, and the ploughshare and general implements of farm husbandry, which to-day form staple articles in the hardware trade. Nearly everything of iron, was home-made and strongly made. In addition to the blacksmiths we have mentioned earlier than 1800, were Moses and Rufus Dodge, in the south part of the village. The Dodges were here as early as 1776. Rufus Dodge lived in, and is supposed to have built, about 1781, the so-called "Elm Tree House "-recently taken down-which stood under the great elm, just north of Mount Peter. Amos Olds, too, was a blacksmith in that part of the town in 1785, and after 1800 Ede Coy. Nail making was a trade akin to blacksmithing, and as all nails were made by hand, was a business of some importance. From 1796 to 1800 and perhaps later, Theophilus Pynchon was the principal nail-maker of the village. One Dimmock is reputed to have set up a machine for making cut nails; the first, it is said, |