The Federal
Period:
Shaping a Nation 1780-1820
The Waltham Mill
This painting depicts the social and industrial communities that existed in Waltham in the early 19th century. The large brick building on the banks of the Charles River is the Boston Manufacturing Co. which still stands today. The painting reveals the mixed community of agriculture and industry and illustrates the rapidly changing economy of eastern Massachusetts in the early 19th century.
Objectives:
• To
read a painting that reveals
life in 1826 rural Massachusetts.
• To
compare the buildings in the
painting with Gore Place which
is located a couple of miles
down the road.
Curriculum Links:
Arts
• Visual
Arts
Standard 5—Critical Response
Standard
10—Interdisciplinary
Connections
Materials:
• Painting: "The Boston
Manufacturing Company, Waltham,
Massachusetts", Elijah
Smith Jr. (1788-1828) c. 1826,
Oil on canvas
• 2 Images of Gore
Place
Instructions:
• Look
at the details of the painting:
buildings, transportation,
animals, occupations, clothing,
landscape
• What was life like
in Waltham for the people who
lived in this scene?
• Was life
similar for Christopher and Rebecca
Gore who lived nearby?
• How does
life in the painting compare
to life at Gore Place? For the
Gores? For their servants? For
the farmer and his helpers and
family?