September 2, 2008 Part 1

Tuesday 2~~~Part 1~~~ Today was a real busy day, as we had a lot planned out to do. We went to the "Saugus Iron Works Nat. Park, the site of the first integrated ironworks in North America.The iron works house is the sole remaining 17th century structure at Saugus, the date is thought to be around 1650. They have reconstructed the entire plant from pictures and the remaining foundations to look and operate like the plant did in the 1600's with the reconstructed blast furnace, a forge, a rolling mill and a blacksmith shop. They chose the site for the iron plant on the Saugus River for its water power, water transport, woodlands and raw materials. The people who worked at Saugus were not Puritan settlers, but artisans from England and Wales, brought to Massachusetts as indentured servants to staff the iron works. An iron workers job was demanding-hot, noisy, physically hard and dangerous. The heavy machinery threatened life and limb, splashing molten metal caused severe burns. After working off their contracts, (usually 7 years) they became independent workers who could negotiate the terms of employment. The iron workers' reasons for being here were financial, not religious as were the Puritans which caused friction between the two groups. The iron workers played hard and sometimes fought hard when they were not working. We really enjoyed going through the plant, with the working waterwheels and machinery, it looks so old, one would never imagine it was recreated. (pictures)