Truro, Massachusetts
Barnstable county. Truro lies on Cape Cod bay, between Wellfleet and Provincetown; it is nearly surrounded by water;—by Pamet river, which sets in from Cape Cod bay on the south, and by Cape Cod harbor in Provincetown. Truro was the Pamet of the Indians, and after its settlement, in 1700, was called Dangerfield for some years. Pamet river affords a good harbor for fishermen; it lies about 5 miles S.E. from Provincetown harbor. There is in this town, near the light house, a vast body of clay, called the "Clay Pounds," which seems providentially placed, in the midst of sand hills, for the preservation of this part of the cape. Although there is but little vegetation at Truro, and the people are dependent almost enitrely for their fuel, and most of their food on other places; yet there are but few towns in the state where the people are more flourishing, and independent in their circumstances. To such towns as this old Massachusetts looks with pride for one of her chief resources of wealth—the fishery; and for the men of noble daring in all her enterprises on the ocean. In 1837, there were 63 vessels owned at Truro, employed in the cod and mackerel fishery, measuring 3,437 tons; the product of which, in one year, was 16,950 quintals of cod fish, and 15,750 barrels of mackerel, valued at $145,350. The number of hands employed was 512. The value of salt manufactured, annually, is about $20,000. There are also, manufactures of palm-leaf hats, boots, shoes, &c.
No one would suppose that this was much of a wool growing place; and it is not so in regard to the quantity grown, but much so as it regards its means. In 1837, the people of Truro sheared 400 sheep of their own rearing. If the single county of Penobscot, in Maine, would produce as much wool, in proportion to its territory and the quality of its soil, as the town of Truro, there would be no cause of strife about the tariff on wool or woolen cloths; for the quantity would be sufficient to clothe all the inhabitants on the globe.
Truro was incorporated in 1709. It lies 41 miles below Barnstable, and 106 from Boston, by land. Population, 1830, 1,549; 1837, 1,806.
