Rural Economy in New England 285 



about 7,500 cords being necessary each year for fuel. This was 

 brought from neighboring coast and river towns by water. The 

 influence of the market in, New Haven, although it could not have 

 been very great, was noticeable in the adjoining towns of Northford, 

 North Haven and East Haven.^ 



New London and Norwich seem to have duplicated the state of 

 affairs found in the town just described, but on a smaller scale. The 

 first mentioned had not yet (1810) recovered from its severe treat- 

 ment at the hands of Benedict Arnold during the Revolution. Its 

 principal non-agricultural interest, fishing, employed some 55 small 

 vessels, besides a half-dozen or more brigs which exported a large 

 part of the yearly catch to England. Of its 3,300 inhabitants per- 

 haps one-half lived in a compact village, which besides 300 to 400 

 dwellings, contained 80 to 100 stores and taverns. Considering the 

 diminutive area of the township, four square miles, it is probable that 

 most of its food supplies were brought across the Thames River from 

 the large and prosperous town of Groton.^ 



Norwich, with five times the area of New London, had only a few 

 hundred more inhabitants. Besides the usual coasting trade^ and 

 the building of a few ships yearly, they engaged in a variety of small 

 manufactures, being favored by cheap transportation, via the Thames 

 and the Sound, and exceptionally good water power. Some of the 

 articles there produced were: iron bars and wire, buttons, clocks and 

 watches, chocolate and earthenware. There was no considerable 

 concentration of population in this town, its three villages having 

 perhaps 50 to 100 houses each."* 



(J) Connecticut River Towns. 



Another region in southern New England where a population 

 might have been supported by conmierce was the valley of the Con- 

 necticut River, from Springfield to the Sound. Here an area of 



1 Dwight, Travels, I. 182; II. 40, 486. 



' The facts concerning New London are taken from Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; 

 Pease and Niles, Gazetteer; KendaU, Travels, I. 293-295; and Dwight, Travels, 

 II. 502. 



'As we shall see later, the exportable products of a considerable inland area 

 found their outlet at Norwich. Dwight had high expectations of the future im- 

 portance of this trade. He says: "At a future day it must, I think, be one of 

 the there most commercial places in Connecticut. For a great part of the eastern 

 division of the state, it must ever be the most convenient port; and there are now 

 turnpike roads branching to it from almost every town in this region." Dwight, 

 Travels, II. ZZ. 



*For Norwich see Dwight, Op. cit., loc. cit.; Kendall, Travels, I. 303-304; 

 Morse, Gazetteer, 1810; and Pease and Niles, Gazetteer. 



