| Five towns in Massachusetts form the basis for this study: Pelham, Ware, Northampton, Worcester, and Salem. In 1800, these five communities represented three different types of places: hilltowns (Ware and Pelham), market and administrative centers (Northampton and Worcester), and a major international seaport (Salem). Each type of town will be described in turn.1 |
| Hilltowns (Ware and Pelham) |
| As the name implies, the hilltowns were located in the hilly regions of west central Massachusetts. Undesirable as they were for farming, their uneven terrain and stony, unproductive soil did not attract settlers until the late eighteenth century. Nor did settlers come in large numbers, for life was hard and a meager subsistence agriculture prevailed. In 1800 Pelham contained 1,144 people and Ware, 997. A few hilltown farmers raised sheep and traded potash and charcoal with outsiders, but most cultivated only a few acres and struggled to avoid poverty. Because they were devoid of opportunity, no extended commercial activity took place in the hilltowns, so local residents had little chance to accumulate capital or to acquire complex business skills. Without commerce, neither Ware nor Pelham developed a center containing more than a few ill-kept buildings. Sparsely settled and composed of widely scattered unprosperous farms, Ware and Pelham never fit the classic New England pattern of a town center, stores, church, a green, and outlying farms. Bound to subsistence agriculture, north of east-west transportation routes, and isolated by the hills, Pelham and Ware remained cut off from the outside world. They were, in short, highly provincial places. |
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