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About
Harwich
The
town of Harwich Massachusetts is a resort and residential community located on the south
side of the Cape peninsula, with an extensive shoreline on Nantucket
Sound. It was settled around 1665, and incorporated in 1694. Its early
economy included agriculture and maritime industries and its history has
included boom and bust cycles from the earliest days of the community.
When the whaling industry collapsed with the discovery of oil, the
community's emphasis shifted to cod fishing. By 1802, 15 to 20 ships were
shore fishing and another four ships were cod fishing in Newfoundland and
Labrador, and by 1851, there were 48 ships employing 577 men and bringing
in thousands of tons of fish.
The eventual decline of
the fishing industry in Harwich by the latter part of the 19th century was
caused by increases in the size of ships which eventually outstripped the
shallow port's ability to house them. Residents turned to the development
of cranberry bogs and resorts for summer visitors, working side-by-side
with Portuguese immigrants. The first resort hotel opened in 1880 and both
the cranberry and the tourist industries remain substantial ports of
Harwich's economy in the present.
In 1775, when Separatists
and Baptists outnumbered Orthodox Congregationalists, Harwich burghers
felt independent enough to refuse to do so for 18 years. The town showed
religious diversity from the first including residents who are Baptists,
Methodists, Reformed Methodists (anti-episcopal), Wesleyans and Catholics,
among others. Commercial, motel and condominium development has been
intense along the Route 28 corridor and suburban development has
significantly decreased the remaining agricultural landscape, but the town
retains much of its 19th century character, including period Portuguese
farmhouses.
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