C-4-15
Harrington Brickyard
Stephen Harrington purchased part of the Burnap Farm from John Burnap in 1802. He clearly intended to develop business enterprises there as the purchase included lots that contain the foundation of the tannery (C-4-8), a shoe shop (C-4-6) and the site of a bark mill (C-4-9) in the southeast corner of Nelson Road and Henderson Road today. Two years later he bought the balance of the Burnap Farm and the “Skinner Farm” (C-4-4) where he lived. On the north western part of the farm, he established a brickyard (C-4-10) that manufactured bricks until about 1850.
The brickyard was a small one and was probably established in 1804. Bricks from this yard were used in the construction of school #7 (D-2-12) in 1821. The tannery was probably established in early 1803 providing leather for the shoe shop across Henderson Road. The bark mill consisted of a dam and a mill where oak and hemlock bark were ground and soaked in water to produce tannin for use in the tanning process.
Harrington sold the tannery and brickyard to Asa Spaulding in 1822. Spaulding moved Nehemiah Flint to the property in 1822 and sold him the farm portion of the property in 1827. Spaulding continued to live on the “Skinner Farm” and manage his businesses until about the time of the Civil War when they, likely ceased operation. Nehemah Flint lived in the old Burnap house (C-4-5). Flint seems to have operated the brickyard until his death in a mining accident in 1850.
