CHAPTER II. 



The Coast and River Towns. 



A glance at the map of southern New England as it was in 1810 

 will reveal the fact that all of the largest towns in these states were 

 at that time to be found either on the seacoast or on the largest of the 

 navigable rivers, the Connecticut. Has this fact any significance? 

 Were the occupations of the bulk of the inhabitants of these towns 

 different from those of the inland towns? Had maritime industries, 

 such as fishing, trading, and shipbuilding developed to such an extent 

 as to lead to a clear-cut separation of occupations? Is it possible that 

 there was in these towns a concentrated population who furnished 

 a market for the products of inland farmers? If so, what effect did 

 the existence of such a market have on the agricultural population? 

 These are the questions confronting us in this chapter. 



Four Groups of Commercial Towns. 



For purposes of analysis we may divide the commercial towns 

 into four groups: (1) The towns along the north shore of Massa- 

 chusetts Bay from Boston to Newburyport; (2) those on the south 

 coast of Massachusetts, on NarragansettBayand in Connecticut along 

 the shore of Long Island Sound, including all the ports from New 

 Bedford to New York; (3) the towns on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard 

 and Nantucket; and (4) the river towns of the Connecticut Valley. 



(/) On Massachusetts Bay. 



The most important of these groups of towns was the first mentioned. 

 Here were seven towns, not including Boston, ranging in population 

 from 4,600 to 12,000, making a total altogether of 46,000 people. 

 Add to this 34,000 for Boston and 5,000 for Charlestown, (at that 

 time practically a part of the larger city) and we have a total of 85,000 

 persons living on a narrow strip of sea-coast some 50 miles in extent. 

 It might well be expected that a large proportion of this population 

 was supported by some non-agricultural activity. As far as Boston 

 and Charlestown were concerned, there seems to have been a thorough 

 divorce from the soil. On the little peninsula on which these cities 

 were built there were about 3,000 houses. Their inhabitants were 



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