Middleborough, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1770s

Work

Farms, mills, iron

Agriculture remained the main work², but the Nemasket River also powered a blast furnace, forge, slitting mill, shops, grist mill, and sheds² at Muttock. Smaller sawmills and gristmills worked on brooks^1,2 around the town.

Faith

Meetinghouses set time

The Green was both civic and religious ground, and taverns near meetinghouses were expected to empty during worship: innkeepers were expected to clear them during church service⁴. South Middleborough had a Baptist meetinghouse raised in 1761².

Law & power

Oliver’s influence broke

Judge Peter Oliver had wealth, offices, and industry, but Revolutionary politics changed the balance: Conant and Zachariah Eddy helped turn local opinion against the Crown⁴. Oliver’s estate later became a symbol of defeat when Oliver Hall burned in 1778^1,3.

In the air

Liberty on the Green

The argument over imperial power was local and public: a liberty pole was raised on the Green in October 1774⁴. Men discussed the war at Sproat Tavern, the Revolutionary rendezvous⁴.

What people feared

Smallpox and war

Disease could pass through a parish suddenly: Rev. Sylvanus Conant died of smallpox on December 8, 1777⁴, and eight parishioners died in the same December fortnight. War also touched the town through drilling on the Green and marches to the army⁴.

Home & table

Cottages on old roads

A visible ordinary landscape included center-chimney cottages, gambrel roofs, and some end-wall overhangs¹. Houses stood along roads and neighborhoods such as Plympton Road, Plymouth Street, Thompson Road, Warrentown, and Eddyville¹.

Who lived here

Large, mixed old town

Middleborough was not a tiny village: the non-Native population reached 4,119 in 1776². Native people remained, though records increasingly placed them toward Betty’s Neck in what is now Lakeville².

Roads & news

Tavern as newsroom

Printed news was scarce, so a newspaper at the tavern drew people to read and discuss events⁴. Stagecoach travel connected the town with Plymouth, Taunton, and New Bedford⁴.

Year by year

1. 1770Dr. Peter Oliver Jr. and Sarah Hutchinson held a wedding reception at Oliver Hall, drawing guests from Boston and abroad. here
2. 1773Benjamin Franklin visited Middleborough for three days and attended Sunday meeting at the Old Meeting House on the Green. here
3. 1774A liberty pole was raised on the Green as local officers resigned and Revolutionary politics became public. here⁴
4. 1775Fighting at Lexington and Concord opened the Revolutionary War and would have been discussed in Middleborough’s taverns and meetinghouses. the country⁴
5. 1776The Declaration of Independence turned resistance into a claim of separation from Britain. the country
6. 1777Smallpox killed Rev. Sylvanus Conant and eight of his parishioners in December. here⁴
7. 1778Oliver Hall burned after Loyalist Judge Peter Oliver had fled the country. here^1,3
8. 1781The British surrender at Yorktown brought news that the war might finally be ending. the country

Pictures from the time

What the sources say

• Middleborough was a town in Plymouth County; the coordinates given fall in the old Middleborough area, not a later namesake. from the sources¹
• A Massachusetts Historical Commission town report treats the years 1675–1775 as Middleborough’s Colonial Period and 1775–1830 as its Federal Period. from the sources¹
• The non-Native population was recorded as 3,419 in 1765 and 4,119 in 1776. from the sources²
• Native occupation continued in town into the late eighteenth century, but by then was recorded chiefly at Betty’s Neck in what is now Lakeville. from the sources²
• Bridges over former fordways helped establish the town center known as the Green. from the sources²
• Known eighteenth-century Middleborough houses included center-chimney cottages, gambrel roofs, and some end-wall overhangs, with examples on Plympton Road, Plymouth Street, Thompson Road, Warrentown, and Eddyville. from the sources¹
• A second Baptist meetinghouse was built in 1761 at the junction of Grove and Locust Streets in South Middleborough. from the sources²
• Between 1745 and 1765 Judge Peter Oliver established a large industrial complex at Muttock on the Nemasket River, including a blast furnace, forge, slitting mill, blacksmith, finishing and hammer shops, grist mill, and fuel sheds. from the sources²
• Oliver’s works produced iron goods, including Crown contracts for cannon balls, mortar, howitzers, shot, and shell. inferred³
• When the Oliver dam was enlarged, provisions had to be made for the herring passage on the Nemasket River. inferred³
• Before 1775 Middleborough had mill activity on several waters, including Black Brook, Woods Brook, Shorts Brook, Whetstone Brook, Raven Brook, Puddingshear Brook, Bartlett Brook, and Fall Brook. from the sources^1,2
• Agriculture remained the most important economic activity, even as iron and mill industries grew along the river. from the sources²
• Sproat Tavern stood on Plymouth Street by the Lower Green and was described as the only inn in that part of town for many years. from the sources⁴
• Taverns near meetinghouses were licensed public houses, and innkeepers were expected to clear them during church service. from the sources⁴
• Sproat Tavern served as a Revolutionary War rendezvous where Middleborough patriots assembled, drilled on the Green, and marched away to join the army. from the sources⁴
• A liberty pole was raised on the Green in October 1774, and Rev. Sylvanus Conant was reported to have prayed and spoken under it. from the sources⁴
• The town was expected by some to remain loyal because of Judge Oliver’s influence, but Rev. Sylvanus Conant and Zachariah Eddy helped turn local opinion against the Crown. from the sources⁴
• Sproat Tavern was on a traveled route where stagecoaches brought visitors moving between Plymouth, Taunton, and New Bedford. from the sources⁴
• Newspapers were not common in town, but one could usually be found at the tavern, where people gathered to read and discuss news. from the sources⁴
• Rev. Sylvanus Conant died of smallpox on December 8, 1777, and eight parishioners who died between December 5 and 18 were buried with him. from the sources⁴
• Oliver Hall, Judge Peter Oliver’s country estate at Muttock, burned in 1778 after Oliver, a Loyalist, had fled the country. from the sources^1,3
• No online source opened here gives ordinary Middleborough day wages, bread prices, or farm rents for the 1770s. not known

Sources

1. MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Middleborough. Massachusetts Historical Commission, 1981
2. Muttock-Pauwating Site: Historic Context. Eastern Massachusetts Archaeology, 2016
3. About Middleborough. Middleborough Historical Association
4. History of the Town of Middleboro, Massachusetts, Part 25. LDS Genealogy, 1906

Nearby, about the same time