As the first settlers arrived in our little town of Pennycook in the early 1700s the very first priority was to seek shelter. Shelter from the approaching winter, shelter for safety and shelter to establish and grow a family.
The settlers immediately set about building garrisons around Pennycook and then built homes near the garrisons. If the alarm was sounded and there was a threat, the settlers would leave their small homes and seek the immediate shelter within the garrison. As more settlers arrived more garrisons were constructed and consequently more homes surrounded each and every garrison.
The early shelters were built crudely with logs and the point of contact between logs was sealed with a mixture of mud to keep the cold winds out and the heat within. The log homes served a very useful purpose and provided well for the early settlers.
As the settlement of Pennycook transitioned to a newly incorporated town of Rumford in 1733, we find the settlers further established and harnessing the power of the local rivers, brooks and streams to build sawmills to cut the locally harvested logs into boards. The boards were easier to build with and could be secured together with square cut nails from the local farrier, allowing for a better-quality home that could be built more efficiently and quickly.
The material available in the wilderness of Rumford was limited for many years, the only alternative after the settlement grew was to utilize saw mill boards or local bricks that were being made in the south end of town, certainly a very viable option since bricks were good insulators and the threat of fire was very low. Brick would also stop a musket ball when fired at the occupants of the home, so safety was improved greatly too.
Colonel John Carter was one of the early brickmakers and had a brick yard near his various homes on Iron Works Road, Clinton Street and Hall Street. He utilized primitive techniques but fired some very fine bricks from his local sources which helped to construct some of our earliest brick homes. As Rumford was renamed and the town of Concord was incorporated in 1765, we see additional early settlers engaging in the art of brickmaking, providing some clear competition to Col. John Carter.
A gentleman by the name of Richard Worthen was associated with the early brick making trade in Concord and actually enjoyed a very successful period. He contributed to many well-known buildings by providing the needed brick to ensure strength and long life for the buildings. Richard Worthen moved from Bow to Concord and settled on Iron Works Road, just west of Wheelers Corner. His initial business venture was the manufacturing of “treenails” prior to engaging in the brick business. His “treenails” were simply wooden pegs or dowels that he manufactured from the surrounding forest in Bow and Concord. He would carry his finished “treenails” by placing the loads in a cart pulled by oxen to the shipbuilders along the coast. His “treenails” were used to build ships, securing the wooden planks together. As his brick manufacturing increased in sales, he eventually dedicated his full-time efforts to the Concord brick making. Richard Worthen actually manufactured the bricks that were used to build the old state prison at the bottom of Beacon and Tremont Streets, the New Hampshire State House and the Academy on Sand Hill, the present-day Academy Street.
Worthen eventually established a brick yard on Thompson Street, running between South Street and Spring Street and utilized a clay bed just east of South Street for his raw material. He built himself a brick house to the south of Iron Works Road where he spent his remaining years in prosperity.
The brickmaking process of the old days was very tedious work and certainly considered seasonal. In the fall, the clay would be harvested from the known clay pit and allowed to temper for the remainder of the year, exposing the clay to the rain, frost, freezing snow and winds. Once the spring arrived the tempered clay would be placed in wooden molds, which were sanded over the winter months to prevent the clay from sticking. The molds, called “hods” would be cleaned each evening to allow for more clay to be placed, removed and set in the sun for drying. A brick kiln would be fired and the sun-dried bricks would be baked to perfection, ensuring years of service to any building they were used to construct. The process of running the kiln, gathering wood to feed the fire and processing each brick was very labor intensive.
Richard Worthen enjoyed a long career, shipping his bricks on steamships down the Merrimack River for use in other towns further south. Some of the old time brickmakers would make their “mark” in the form of a symbol on the wet bricks before being fired in the wood fired kiln. They inscribed bricks as a tribute to the quality work they completed.
To this very day the fine crafted bricks stand tribute to this early Concord trade, the “makers mark” not always visible but the true test of time quite evident; Buildings that have remained standing for over two centuries here in Concord with brick manufactured from the clay pit just east of South Street.