|
Number 19. Pillow Lace Site. 5 High Street. This site has much history attached to it. One of the early owners was Dr. Thomas Berry. He was an active supporter of education and served the colony in many ways. But he was a strong minded character, very typical of Ipswich citizens over the years. He drove around town in a chariot with liveried slaves, frequently dressed in red satin breeches and cape. Citizens would bow respectfully as he passed. At that time, there was a path that cut across the hill behind his house which led to a spring at the top of the hill. He obtained permission to exclusive use of that spring for his family. He would run up the hill with his children every morning for a cold bath. This regimen failed to save them from the terrible throat distemper epidemic, diphtheria, that swept through eastern Massachusetts between 1727 and 1737. Three of his children died. Later, the property became the property of the New England Lace Manufacturing Company, another of the Heard family enterprises. They were attempting to use the new knitting machines to make lace. The thread broke frequently, so they decided to try silk. Augustine Heard brought silk worm cocoons into the country secured in the waist bands of Chinese coolies to maintain the needed warmth. Mulberry bushes were planted up the hill to provide food, but the silk threads they produced wouldn't work either. The enterprise was ended, and the building passed later into the Ross family. |
|
