Town of Dartmouth
Established- June 8, 1664

Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, master of the "Concord" was the first white man (1602) to come to Dartmouth who kept a written record of his explorations.

The area called Darthmouth was purchased from the Indians in 1652 for 30 yards of cloth, 8 mooseskins, 15 hoes, 15 axes, 8 blankets, 2 kettles, 1 cloak, 2 English pounds in Wampum, 8 pairs of shoes, 1 iron pot, and 10 shillings. The purchase included the present Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Acushnet, Westport, and New Bedford plus small areas of present Little Compton and Tiverton, R.I. Captain Myles Standish was an original purchaser, however, only 10 of the original purchasers ever moved here.

Many originals settlers came from Plymouth Colony, others from around Boston. Both Quakers and Baptists came, wishing to escape the constant monitoring of their religious observations by the Puritans who dominated in the more prominent settlements.

A militia was organized in 1667.

An early treaty was made between the local Indians and the settlers - the Indians agreed not to attack the settlers and the settlers agreed not to harm the Indians. This treaty was violated by visiting Captain Church if the Plymouth Colony who, in the summer of 1676, captured Indians and marched them to Plymouth where they were sold as slaves and shipped to the West Indies. Among those sold was King Philip's wife and son.

The Indians retaliated, burning all the houses and buildings in the town and killing all the cattle. Homes were spread out and the only settlers who survived were those who heard a warning and fled either to Russell's Garrison or Cooke's Garrison. The others were killed

Early settlers had found attractive meadows near the coast which produced hay to feed their cattle and sheep. In spite of the not very rich soil, they established farms. By 1768 the town had many farms; 30 mills including grist mills, fulling mills and sawmills; and an iron works.

The British attacked New Bedford in September of 1778 with a side invasion of Padanaram in South Dartmouth. Here two former residents, Tories, who had been forced out of the village arrived with the British and directed them to properties of the men responsible for their banishment. Two homes were burned but a third one was saved by a woman who threw water on the fires as they were started and also on the soldiers.

Whalers sailed out of the present Dartmouth through not on as large a scale as from New Bedford. Shipbuilding was established at Padanaram and smaller boats, floated down the shallow river on barrels, were made at Russells Mills. Ancillary industries were rope walks, blacksmith shops, cooper shops, and sail lofts. Sails are still made in Padanaram. There was a sawmill here prior to 1708 and another started in 1778. In 1800 a windmill was built to power a grist mill.

At Russells Mills there were at least a dozen mills over the years. Early mills included a grist mill, in 1702 a fulling mill was started up which was later converted to a shingle mill, and a carding mill began around 1830. By 1787 an iron forge had been established.

At Smith MIlls, mills were started as early as 1664 but it's not clear what kind. A grist and fulling mill started in 1702, a sawmill in 1702, a second sawmill in 1792, and later a cotton factory. Records refer to an oil mill in 1801.

The industry unique to South Dartmouth was salt making. This was done by running sea water thru an evaporating system or by dripping sea water over small trees and shrubs which held the salt particles later harvested by shaking the branches. This was in important industry and by 1840 there were 13 such salt works in South Dartmouth. The by-product of the brush method was called "bitter water". This "bitter water" was regularly sold to a grinding company in Worcester to be used as a lubricant in shaping and smoothing iron work.

A native son invented the metal plow. Jethro Wood, Born in 1774, while still a child, melted a pewter cup from which he molded a toy model of a plow, made a harness from his suspenders for his cat, hitched the cat to the plow and tried it out in his mother's flower garden. Later he moved to New York and continued whittling models until he had the curve he needed for the plow blade. Then he made an iron plow. Thomas Jefferson heard of his efforts and encouraged him with several letters as he, too, was interested in improving on the wood plow and had made and istalled a strip of iron on a plow. Encouraged by Jefferson's letters, Wood succeeded in 1819 and patented his invention.

Historical Sites

Village of Padanaram, South Darthmouth, on National Register of Historic Places
Village of Russells Mills, South Dartmouth, on National Register of Historic Places
Town Pound, Russells Mills, South Dartmouth (1707)
Apponagansett Meetinghouse, South Dartmouth (1790) - original meetinghouse built in 1699 near present site.
Fieldstone Monument, end of Lucy St, Padanaram, marks site of the Russell Garrison used during the King Philip's War, 1675-1676.