| The Davistown Museum |
| The Ancient Dominions of Maine: An Archaeology of Tools |
| Historic Maritime I (1607-1676): The First Colonial Dominion |
| The establishment of settlements at Popham and Arrowsic, along the Kennebec and Sheepscot Rivers, at |
| Pemaquid and other locations on the Maine coast west of the Kennebec River in the early colonial period was |
| brought to a quick halt by the onset of the French and Indian Wars, which began with King Philip's War in 1675. |
| Within a year of the onset of this war, all of the English settlements east of Wells were burned or abandoned. |
| In fact, only a few tools in the Museum collections can be identified as dating from this first colonial dominion. |
| There are no surviving woodworking tools that can be identified as having been used by the first wave of |
| European settlers in Maine. Most of the tools in the first display case were made in the 18th century; |
| nonetheless, they are similar to those that might have been found in the tool kits of the earliest settlers. |
| | Status | Location |
| Agricultural Implements |
| 71903T4 | Grub hoe | DTM |
| Forged iron and natural steel, 9 1/4" long, 4 2/3" wide cutting edge, unsigned. |
| A typical colonial era grub hoe with a poll-less socket for the handle. It is hand forged and clearly a three quarter inch natural |
| steel cutting edge was hand welded on to the tool. It is probably made from refined wrought iron as silica inclusions are not |
| visible. |
| TAB1011 | Grub hoe | photo | photo | DTM |
| Forged iron, 4" wide, 6" high, unsigned, 17th or 18th century. |
| A generic gardening tool, with early forged rivets. This tool is typical of a gardening tool used by the first settlers in coastal |
| Maine, but could also date from the 18th century. |
| TAB1009 | Hay cutter | photo | photo | DTM |
| Forged iron, 16 1/2" long with two blades with a 7" separation between the ends of the two blades, unsigned, 17th or 18th |
| Axes |
| 111001T29 | Broad ax | photo | photo | DTM |
| Forged iron, 9 1/2" long, 8" blade, unsigned. |
| Distinctly and primitively forged, possibly from bog iron, this seventeenth century ax came in the Abiel Walker (Alna, ME) |
| tool kit and was probably made and used by the earliest settlers in coastal Maine. See the Registry of Maine Toolmakers for |
| more information on Abiel Walker. |
| 102904T2 | Hewing ax | bio | photo | DTM |
| Forged iron and steel, wooden handle, 8" long, 7" wide cutting edge, 2" long and 1" wide poll, 31" long handle, unsigned. |
| This ax is typical of those imported from England in the 17th and early 18th centuries. With a lightweight poll, this type of ax |
| soon proved impractical in the huge forests of North America and was supplanted by axes of American design with heavier |
| polls. Follow the bio link to learn about the similarly designed Wilson Museum Jonesport broad ax. These axes were typical |
| in colonial era shipyards before 1740. |
| 102904T3 | Mortising ax | photo | DTM |
| Forged iron and natural steel, wooden handle, 9 1/4" long, 15/16" wide cutting edge, 3 5/16" long and 1" wide poll, 24 1/2" long |
| handle, marked "J254" on handle. |
| This edge tool has been torturously forged and shows a clearly hand forged natural steel cutting edge. The mark on the |
| handle indicates this tool might have once been in an institutional collection. It was found at a Massachusetts estate. This |
| ax is typical of one that would be found in an early colonial shipyard. It has an obscured signature that suggests it was |
| made by an enterprising colonial blacksmith for New England's shipbuilding industry. |
| 42607T5 | Trade ax | DTM |
| German steel, 7 15/16" long, 4" wide blade, unsigned. |
| This 17th century felling ax has a curved light-wieght poll characteristic of European-made axes. It shows no sign of a weld |
| steel-iron interface. Highly pitted, the ax is probably made from one piece of German steel bar stock. |
| Blacksmith and Farriers' Tools |
| | Page 1 of 5 |
