Rope-Making Industry of Old West End Comes to Life in New Exhibit

Boston, MA—On May 22, 2012, Ropewalks of the West End and Beyond opens at the West End Museum. The new exhibit, which runs through August 18 in the Main Exhibit Hall, traces the history, vitality and economic significance of the rope-making industry in colonial and federal Boston with graphic and model renderings, interactive displays, artifacts, videos and more. The show reception takes place at 6:30 p.m. on May 29. Concurrent programs include walking tours that offer the chance to discover firsthand the remnants of the ropewalks’ footprints on the West End and other areas of the city. The exhibit, reception and some concurrent programs are free. (Reception and program details appear on the following pages; download show-related images at
www.flickr.com/photos/thewestendmuseum).

From the mid-17th century to the end of the 19th century, the rope-making industry thrived in Boston. Ropewalks—long, narrow plots with covered walks and sheds that housed rope-making facilities—dotted the landscape of West Boston and supplied rope primarily for seafaring vessels. One of the city’s earliest ropewalks lay less than 100 yards from today’s West End Museum.

“The making of rope for outfitting ships was of utmost importance to the maritime economy of old Boston,” says Duane Lucia, executive director of the West End Museum. “Because of its undeveloped pasture land, more than half of the town’s ropewalks were located in West Boston, current day Beacon Hill and the West End.”

Ropewalks of the West End highlights the history of these unusual and iconic structures, beginning with the first “ropefield” of John Harrison established in 1642—just 12 years after Boston’s founding—and continuing beyond the onset of the War of 1812 when a West End ropewalk supplied the anchor cable to the U.S.S. Constitution. The exhibit features a 20-foot long scale model of a typical ropewalk as well as graphic panels that highlight the chronological development, construction, operation and topography of the city’s ropewalks. Video presentations and other graphic panels explain the rope-making process, including why it took a structure a quarter-mile long to make a rope about 800 feet long. An interactive exhibit area allows visitors to try their hand at making rope while other areas showcase rope-making tools and artifacts alongside related artwork, photographs and letters. Lucia and Beacon Hill resident Thomas K. Burgess curate the show.

Archival imagery and artifacts are supplied by: The Print Department and Norman P. Leventhal Center at the Boston Public Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Plymouth Cordage Museum, NPS Charlestown Navy Yard, Massachusetts Historical Society, Bostonian Society, Boston Athenaeum, Fenimore Art Museum of the New York State Historical Society and the University of Virginia Art Museum.

About the West End Museum:
The West End Museum is dedicated to the collection, preservation and interpretation of the history and culture of the West End neighborhood. The Museum’s permanent exhibit, “The&Last&Tenement,” highlights the immigrant history of the neighborhood  through its decimation under Urban Renewal in 1959; two additional galleries feature rotating exhibits. The Museum is located near North Station at 150 Staniford St. Suite 7. Hours: Tuesday-Friday 12:00pm-O5:00pm; Saturday 11:00am-O4:00pm. Admission is free.

Show Reception
Tuesday, May 29; 6:30 to 8:30pm
@ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

Tour the exhibit and enjoy light refreshments.

Walking Tour: Ropewalks of the West End and Beyond 
Saturday, June 2; 10:30am
starts @ West End Museum
Cost: $15 ($7 members)

In 17th and 18th century Boston, long lots—eventually covered by equally long buildings—sprang up for the manufacture of rope and cordage to supply the booming shipping trade. The smell and the threat of fire from the tar vats that cured the hemp rope ensured that this industry was soon relegated to the least developed parts of the city: the West End and Beacon Hill.

This walking tour will begin at the West End Museum with a short overview of the exhibition and then follow a route tracing the locations of West End and Beacon Hill ropewalks to the Boston Common and eventually to Post Office Square and Purchase Street. Weather permitting and for those who wish to take part, a ferry ride from the Aquarium to Charlestown ($1.70 fare) will cap the tour with a view of the only standing complete ropewalk in America. Beacon Hill resident Thomas K. Burgess will lead the tour.

Film Nights: Ropewalk: A Cordage Engineer’s Journey Through History
Tuesday, June 5; 6:30 to 8:00pm
Thursday, July 19; 6:30 to 8:00pm
@ West End Museum
Cost: FREE

Ropewalk: A Cordage Engineer’s Journey Through History is an award-winning documentary. In the film, Director Steve Fetsch links prehistoric tools, Benjamin Franklin and space travel with one common thread: Rope. The history of rope is explored from its ancient beginnings to its agriculture significance in Civil War-era Ohio to its modern, high-tech uses. Narrated by Bill Hagenbuch, former president of one the country’s last natural-fiber rope- making companies, the film features historical photographs and clips from mid-1900s industry reels.

Walking Tour: The Marriage of Wharf and Waterfall 
Tuesday, August 7; 6:30pm
starts @ West End Museum
Cost: $15 ($7 members)

Since its founding, Boston has been a major American seaport, and much of its early economy depended entirely on the maritime industry. At the dawn of the 19th century, England and France were at war, which affected America’s ability to do business at sea. The Embargo Act of 1807, which limited sea trade, had an adverse effect on the New England economy. Yankee ingenuity and the building of the Middlesex Canal, however, led to the development of the textile industry along the Merrimac River. Additionally, access to natural resources from northern New England created a whole new economic opportunity for those affected by the decline in sea trade. This newfound wealth led to the creation of a Brahmin class—Bostonians who made their fortunes both in the colonial maritime trade and in 19th century manufacturing—perched on top of the newly developed Beacon Hill.
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The Marriage of Wharf and Waterfall walking tour will focus on the federal period landscape of the West End and Beacon Hill, including key architecture of the time, the location of the Middlesex Canal terminus and ropewalk locations in the West End. Duane Lucia, executive director of the West End Museum, will lead the tour.