The Coopers of Maine and their Products

The beginning of King Philip's War in 1686 resulted in the depopulation of the entire colonial population of coastal Maine east of Wells.  The gradual resettlement of the coast of Maine occurred after 1710 and especially after the fall of Norridgewock in 1724.  After the final end of the French and Indian War (1759) and the Treaty of Paris (1763), settlers from southern New England streamed into Maine, including the Pleasant River settlements of eastern Maine.  The roots of the/ngolden years of Maine's shipbuilding era in the 19th century lie in the/n18th century and its rapid growth in coastal communities, the coasting/ntrade and Maine's fisheries and lumbering industries.  In 1790, the/nfederal government was organized, its customs districts delineated, and/nfederal policies implemented to encourage coastal trading and the cod fishery. /nThe rapid increase in shipbuilding that resulted gave rise to a century/nof coopering, whereby farmers as well as shipwrights and other artisans/nproduced woodenware in the long Maine winters.  This woodenware included/njointed and crozed staves, hoops and heads used for rum and molasses hogsheads/n(tierces), codfish drums, lime casks as well as many other wooden products/nsuch as boxes for candles, sugar, coffee; containers for pork, mutton,/nbeef, grain, onions, potatoes and other produce.  These wood products/nwere shipped as "shooks", a term for any complex piece of woodenware like/na box or a barrel that was broken down and packed as one unit to save space/nin the hold of the ship.  The West Indies trade was a particularly/nlucrative market for products the cooper would make; tropical forest products/nsuitable for rum kegs and sugar boxes were simply nonexistent on Caribbean/nislands.  A second most important use of coopered woodenware was the/nrobust New England cod fisheries, where salt boxes, tub trawls, codfish/ndrums, and other wooden containers and tools were an essential ingredient/nof every fishing voyage.  Coopers also supplied a burgeoning market/neconomy with woodenware to store fruits, vegetables and other products/nfor transport by the coasting traders, which plied the waters of New England/nand the Atlantic coast.  A third important market for the cooper was/nthe lime industry of Rockland where huge lime casks were produced in communities/nsuch as Liberty and Montville and transported in large wagons to Rockport/nto store the lime produced at the shoreline kilns.  A fourth activity/nof the cooper was to produce treenails (pronounced trunnels), large wooden/npegs, which, when inserted into the ribs of ships, were much more efficient/nfasteners fasteners than rusty nails because they, once swollen, were unremovable. /nAfter the Civil War, factory made sheet metal containers began supplementing/nthe products of the coopers.  Production of lime casks lingered until/nlate in the 19th century in Liberty and nearby communities.

This information on cooper's tools and products will gradually/nbe updated with photographs, lists and additional postings.  Also/nsee the Davistown Museum exhibition An Archaeology of Tools for a listing/nof cooper's tools in the collection.