If someone had built a large wall around Monterey back in Colonial days and allowed no one to go in or out, Monterey would not have been bothered particularly.

It might have cut off the supply of molasses and turpentine, which the early settlers received in Hudson, N.Y., in return for cheese. But aside from that, life would have gone on about as usual.

In other words, the little town of Monterey was almost completely self-sufficient. Striking evidence of this can be found at this moment in the Berkshire Museum, where the Monterey exhibit forms one of the highlights of the current Berkshire County historical exhibition.

A list of the items which form the exhibit, the bulk of them from the personal collection of Julius Miner, reveal that all of the staple requisites for adequate shelter, food and clothing were made within the boundaries of the town.

From the exhibit we learn that one Thomas Wood ran a saw mill and that there were huge, wooden calipers for measuring logs, 10-foot bits for boring wooden water pipes and for accomplishing many other processes involved in housebuilding.

The clothing problem was solved by a variety of activities. Bingley Landon had a mill for cleaning and carding wool and there was a fulling mill for shrinking wool to be made into clothing. The shoe situation was cared for by Elijah Pixley, who went from house to house with his equipment. Some of the wooden pins he used are included in the exhibit.

Wrought-iron work was also one of the town’s industries; surviving articles in Mr. Miner’s collection including a delicately made bootjack.

Memories of another of Monterey’s most successful businesses are brought back by an exhibit furnished by Mrs. George T. Heath. It includes a photograph of the small building that housed the town’s Comb Shop and a number of the combs made from the hooves of Monterey’s cattle.

Still another of Monterey’s flourishing businesses is commemorated in the exhibition — cheesemaking. Approximately 100,000 pounds were made yearly, the bulk of it going to Hudson to be exchanged for necessary commodities. The exhibit includes a cheese tester and cheese boxes.

A charcoal basket represents one more industry which thrived in the little community in the early days.

George T. Heath contributed a number of interesting relics, among them a brass instrument used for blood-letting and a primitive phleam, or lancet.

This Story in History is selected from the archives by Jeannie Maschino, The Berkshire Eagle.

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.