Explore the Maritime Trail
18th Century - The Seafarers
By the early 18th century, this Area began to prosper, finding its greatest source of sustenance and wealth in the sea. The early coastal settlements, which had started as small fishing outposts, grew into prosperous seaports. Sailors, shipbuilders, blacksmiths, and carpenters flocked to the towns in the Area, which specialized in shipbuilding, coastal fishing and exporting fish overseas.
The Area's skilled maritime inhabitants became the leaders in the march towards the American Revolution, boldly defying British restrictions and volunteering their ships and crew to support the infant American Navy. After the war, when the British banned trade with the new American nation, the Area's merchants reacted by sending their ships out across the perilous seas to the Far East, discovering the secrets of the spice islands and opening up the great ports of the Orient. Exotic goods such as coffee, tea, pepper, and spices were imported in great abundance. With each voyage, America's influence around the globe grew - and, for a time, this Area's reputation as the center of international trade was unrivaled.