Shutesbury — Industries
Extracted from "History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Volume II," by Louis H. Everts, 1879.
Apart from the manufacture of lumber by several saw-mills, and the braiding of palm-leaf hats by the female members of many families, the industries of Shutesbury are, and always have been, purely agricultural. In 1875 the value of manufactures was $10,057, and that of agricultural and domestic products $54,942, the number of farms being 140. The town is somewhat noted for a lavish yield of whortleberries*, and many inhabitants devote their energies in the season to the picking of this fruit and carrying it to market. The total valuation of the town in 1878 was $174,538, of which $157,058 was on real estate. The total tax thereon—State, county, and, town—was $3449.72, or at the rate of nearly two cents on the dollar. Railway ties and charcoal used to be furnished in considerable quantities some years ago, but the yield of those products has latterly much diminished.
*Note: Whortleberries are a variety of Vaccinium sp, known commonly as the wild blueberry.
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