Mulberry Tree - Children Picking & Eating Mulberries, Have You at Camp?

Have You Eaten Mulberries at Camp?  Do You Know Why Mansfield Used to Have 1000's of Mulberry Trees?

   Long ago in Mansfield we had a busy little town full of small mills that were built by the rivers and ran on water power. All of the small villages in town grew up around a central source of employment, a mill. Conantville, Eagleville, Atwoodville and so on the mills were a busy center of industry in early America.

On Hanks Hill Road is the site where the first silk mill in America was built and run. It was no bigger than a back yard shed when the business began but the Hanks brothers were indeed in the silk business there.

Their business grew and they moved into a larger mill. The one pictured above was built in the early 1800's and is now part of the Greenfield Village Museum in Dearborne, Michigan. A sign denotes the spot near the pond where the mill once stood.

This is the newer and larger mill which is still in its original location and now is an apartment house.  As you can see by the picture it was not a big business even then. The owners are to the left in the picture and the group to the right are the mill workers.

So what does all  this have to do with the Mulberry Tree at Holiday Hill Day Camp?

Mulberry Trees were planted all over Mansfield to feed silk worms. The little worms were grown in homes, attics and barn lofts for the silk industry. Their cocoons  would be unraveled and spun into the silk thread . Many farmers grew silk worms as a cash crop so they could have a little extra income. Many trees were planted to feed the hungry  silk worms who dined on the leaves.               

The Mansfield Historical Society often has displays on the silk industry and goes out to schools to share how the silk worms were grown. Maybe a few will be grown this year
 You can read more about it at the Historical Society web page http://www.mansfieldct-history.org/

The best way to contact the Mansfield Historical Society is to email the Museum Director, Ann Galonska. 

    

                                                                        

 

 Nursery Rhyme about the Mulberry Bush          

 

Come back to Holiday Hill Day Camp for the summer of 2011  and find the Mulberry Tree! http://www.holidayrecreation.com/