Damariscotta River Brick Making and the Traces of Maine's Agro-Industrial
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The Kiln in the Garden: Damariscotta River Brick Making and the Traces of Maine’s Agro-Industrial Past ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Jørgen G. Cleemann Historic Preservation Thesis Professor Andrew S. Dolkart, Advisor Professors Norman Weiss and Allan S. Gilbert, Readers June 20, 2012! ! ©2012 Jørgen G. Cleemann All Rights Reserved Table of Contents Table of Figures, Maps, and Tables ................................................................................ 3 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... 8 Foreword .......................................................................................................................... 10 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 1: How the Bricks Were Made ...................................................................... 38 Chapter 2: The Business of Brick Making .................................................................. 88 Chapter 3: The Traces of the Damariscotta River Brick Making Industry ........... 162 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 182 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 185 ! 2! Table of Figures, Maps, and Tables Figure x. 1. A brick house in Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.........................................!14! Figure x. 2. A brick house in Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.........................................!14! Figure x. 3. A brick house in Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.........................................!15! Figure x. 4. Thick deposit of bricks along the banks of a stream feeding into the Damariscotta River, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.................................................!16! Figure x. 5. Log cribbing, brickyard on the property of Bob and Margaret Baker, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!..........................................................................................!17! Figure x. 6. This unnaturally flat area was the site of the clay quarry at the Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.....................................................................!17! Figure x. 7. Log cribbing extending a work platform at the base of the wharf, Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.....................................................................!18! Figure x. 8. Stones lining the former wharf, Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.................................................................................................................................!18! Figure x. 9. Bricks on the beach around the wharf, Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.................................................................................................................................!19! Figure x. 10. Bricks on the beach around the wharf, Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!.................................................................................................................................!19! Figure x. 11. “Brickyard Beach,” Dodge Point Reserve, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!................................................................................................................................................!20! ! Figure i. 1. “The Brick House,” the Perkins family farmstead in Newcastle, ME. Photo: Author.!................................................................................................................................................!25! Figure 1. 1. A brickyard near Dyer Brook, Island Falls, Maine. Image courtesy the Androscoggin Historical Society.!..............................................................................................!41! Figure 1. 2. Illustrations from the application for a “Clay-Cutter” patented in 1874. Image Courtesy Google Patents.!................................................................................................!46! Figure 1. 3. Henry Abbott brickyard on Sturgeon Creek, off the Piscataqua River in Eliot, Maine, ca. 1885. Photo courtesy the Maine Maritime Museum, Bath, Maine.!........!47! ! 3! Figure 1. 4. A pickaxe head found in the vicinity of the brickyard located on the property of Bob and Margaret Baker, Newcastle, Maine. Photo courtesy Timothy Dinsmore. !...............................................................................................................................................................!48! Figure 1. 5. An advertisement for a “Hobbs’ Improved Brick Machine,” circa 1871. Image courtesy Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library.!............................................!52! Figure 1. 6. Illustration from the patent for the Hobbs’ machine, 1870. Image courtesy Google Patents.!................................................................................................................................!53! Figure 1. 7. A disused clay mill located at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!..........................................................................................!54! Figure 1. 8. A butter churn with a central, vertical rotating axis, patented 1808. Image courtesy Google Patents.!..............................................................................................................!57! Figure 1. 9. A washing machine with a rotating central axis and interior, projecting, agitating blades, patented 1830. Image courtesy Google Patents.!.................................!58! Figure 1. 10. A winnower with central, vertical, rotating axis and interlocking, interior blades, patented 1810. Image courtesy Google Patents.!...................................................!59! Figure 1. 11. A Chambers Brothers Company machine. From Appletons’ Cyclopedia of Applied Mechanics, courtesy Google Books.!........................................................................!61! Figure 1. 12. A six-brick mold featuring a protective metal covering on one side and a removable bottom (now missing). From the private collection of Tomlin Coggeshall. Photo: Author.!.................................................................................................................................!64! Figure 1. 13. Workers at Nathaniel Bryant’s brickyard, Newcastle, Maine, ca. 1890s. From the Dinsmore-Flye Photo Collection, Courtesy of the Newcastle Historical Society, Newcastle, Maine.!.........................................................................................................!65! Figure 1. 14. Farrington’s “Machine for Turning or Edging Bricks,” patented 1859. Image courtesy Google Patents.!.................................................................................................!67! Figure 1. 15. A brick found in the vicinity of the Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, ME, featuring fingerprints. From the private collection of Tomlin Coggeshall. Photo: Author.!................................................................................................................................................!68! Figure 1. 16. A page from the transcript of Lillian Hale’s interview with Alonzo Dodge. Image courtesy Bob and Margaret Baker and Timothy Dinsmore.!...............................!74! Figure 1. 17. The wall of the Brick House, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!..............!75! Figure 2. 1. Bricks in the cellar pit of the first Perkins Homestead ............................... 121 Figure 2. 2. The Chapman-Hall House, Damariscotta, Maine, 1754 ............................. 122 ! 4! Figure 2. 3. The “Brick House,” Newcastle, Maine, ca. 1837 ....................................... 131 Figure 2. 4. The Second Congregational Church, Newcastle, Maine, ca. 1848 ............ 136 Figure 2. 5. Day’s Block, Damariscotta, Maine, ca. 1850 ............................................. 137 Figure 2. 6. Advertisements from The Clay-Worker, January 1896 .............................. 161 Figure 2. 7. Advertisements from The Clay-Worker, January 1896 .............................. 161 ! Figure 3. 1. Thompson Ice House, South Bristol, Maine. Photo: Aislinn Sarnacki, “’Arts, Oddities & Artifacts,’ Kittery journalist compiles Maine’s first museum book,” Bangor Daily News, last modified July 24, 2011, accessed March 31, 2012, http://bangordailynews.com/2011/07/24/living/book-reviews/art-oddities-artifacts- kittery-journalist-compiles-maine’s-first-museum-book/!...............................................!163! Figure 3. 2. Thick deposit of bricks along the banks of a stream feeding into the Damariscotta River, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!...............................................!170! Figure 3. 3. Log cribbing, brickyard on the property of Bob and Margaret Baker, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!........................................................................................!172! Figure 3. 4. Site of the clay quarry at the Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!..............................................................................................................................................!173! Figure 3. 5. Log cribbing extending a work platform at the base of the wharf, Perkins brickyard, Newcastle, Maine. Photo: Author.!...................................................................!174!