Mattapoisett usually isn’t thought of as having a rich history full of icons and innovators. Sure, the little oceanside town maintains its fair share of wealthy visitors and whaling artifacts, but to the uninformed outsider, Mattapoisett is mainly a small New England town full of everyday people.
That being said, upon further investigation, Mattapoisett has been home to a number of influencers and creatives. This isn’t a very well-known fact, though, as Mattapoisett’s history of housing impactful difference-makers is often swept under the rug, forgotten and unacknowledged. The Mattapoisett Historical Society is trying to change this, one “mover and shaker” at a time.
Museum Curator Jeffrey Miller has prepared a new exhibit being shown at the Mattapoisett Historical Society Museum on Church Street titled “Mattapoisett’s Movers and Shakers,” and the intent is to highlight a number of distinct innovators coming from all different eras and accomplishing a variety of different things.
Miller places his emphasis the most on one thing with the exhibit: difference makers. Miller defined a “mover and shaker” as “someone who achieved something and made a difference.”
“The scale [of what the movers and shakers accomplished] varies, but the fact that they all accomplished something and made a difference is what links them all,” said Miller.
Whether it be toymakers, inventors, ship captains, or even basket weavers, the 12 movers and shakers all called Mattapoisett home at some point in their lives and accomplished something very influential.
The different innovators chosen are a broad miscellany of people, ranging from local, little-known figures like Gladys Sherman Ellis to more well-known Americans such as author and activist Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin. They all made a big difference in their own way, accomplishing both the little and the enormous along their life path.
One of the more unique pairs highlighted in the exhibit are the Atsatt brothers. Growing up in Mattapoisett 10 years apart, Isaiah and John Atsatt went on to invent a number of various apparatuses, including peanut roasters, chicken feeders, and much more. They earned a Bronze Medal at the 15th Exhibition of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association for their Acme Peanut Roaster, which was manufactured at their self-run Mattapoisett factory on the corner of Pearl and Hammond Streets. The two went on to achieve even more in their adult lives, as Isaiah served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and John become a contractor in Los Angeles.
Another neighborhood creative included in the exhibition is Gladys Sherman Ellis, a lifelong Mattapoisett resident and basketry extraordinaire. Ellis made her hometown famous when she pioneered the Mattapoisett Basket, a type of completely-homemade basket that takes several years to entirely finish and is made using scrimshaw, thin strands of raffia, and coiled southern pine needles. The intricate and detailed baskets take an amazing amount of skill, dedication, and focus to complete, and Ellis even taught classes where she would instruct people on how to make her wildly complex basket design.
While Ellis and the Atsatt brothers were more local inventors than anything else, there were also some nationwide innovators — meet Charles Bryant and Huybertie Pruyn Hamlin.
Bryant grew up in Rochester and eventually retired to Mattapoisett, but accomplished his prominence in his middle years out at sea. Bryant became a whaleship captain, visiting remote regions of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. His expertise led the U.S. government to ask him for help when deciding whether to buy Alaska from Russia. One thing led to another and Bryant eventually became administrator for the entire Alaskan Territory in 1868, developing the territory’s infrastructure and foundation. His efforts were very influential in the purchase and maintenance of Alaska, furthering our country’s reach and helping America become a global superpower.
Bryant’s accomplishments stretched far beyond Mattapoisett, but Hamlin used her countrywide clout for the establishment and betterment of the little town she loved.
After coming from a wealthy and politically well-to-do Albany, New York family, she married Charles Hamlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury. Following Charles’ law practice being moved to Boston, the couple purchased a beat-up house adjacent Ned’s Point Lighthouse and fell in love with the oceanside town.
Hamlin went on to become president of the Mattapoisett Improvement Association for over 30 years, accomplishing a number of important necessities in the town in the early 1900s. From organizing the town’s first trash collection to maintaining the town beach to planting more than 400 shade trees, Hamlin kickstarted a lot of important town affairs. Until her death in 1964, Hamlin did a whole lot for Mattapoisett as a community, uniting its people and helping build it up to the strong, accomplished town that it is today.
Through all the movers and shakers, the exhibit accentuates the importance of believing in your town and its people, no matter how small or insignificant the little community may seem to the world as a whole. After all, big ideas can come from small places, and Mattapoisett’s Movers and Shakers proves this without a single doubt.
By Caleb Jagoda
