3 2 O HIS TOR V OF COHA SSE T. 



heavy timbers. The sharp click of the calker's chisel is 

 only a memory now. 



There is an old twisted pear tree now standing in the 

 Lawrence Barrett* estate on the north side of the Cove 

 where formerly the stems of vessels were set up with keel 

 pointing to the water. The ribs were hewn from the oaks 

 of our own forests ; oxen had been hauling them winter 

 and summer from the hillsides to the shore ; and as they 

 were lifted one by one to their places along the keel, the 

 people living about the harbor watched the daily growth. 

 The noise of planking reached the ears of the whole 

 neighborhood, so that the hush of the noon hour, when- 

 the laborers were at their meals, was the familiar respite 

 of every midday. 



Ship carpenters were born here in those days and reared 

 to that trade from infancy. 



The launchings were occasions of delight to many who 

 might gather to view them ; but especially exhilarating 

 were they to those who could stand upon the deck when 

 the props were knocked out and when the wooden bulk 

 began " to feel the thrill of life along her keel," as she moved 

 over the greasy ways into the bosom of the full tide. 



An important shipyard was at the head of the Cove 

 where Guild Hall stands. 



There was not much travel in those days along Border 

 Street, for there was no bridge over the Gulf into Scitu- 

 ate, and the only passing was down to Samuel Bates' 

 wharf or to the gristmill and Elisha Doane's wharf. 



The place of the old saw pit, where a man below and a 

 man above the timber patiently sawed the whole length 

 with a long splitting saw, is now to be pointed out next 

 to a ledge of granite at the edge of the road, a few steps 

 away from Guild Hall. 



Other shipyards no doubt existed around the Cove and 



* Since the above was written this estate has become the summer home of C. W. 

 Barron. 



