Tack Factory, The

The Salmond Tack Factory in Norwell, Massachusetts is located at the lower end of a mill pond created when a dam was built across Third Herring Brook in the late 18th century. The original part of the Salmond Tack Factory is a low one story plus attic frame structure with a very broad, rather high pitched roof. Of post and beam construction, the building has heavy hand-hewn timbers. The exterior walls are covered with many layers of wood shingles over rough board sheathing. A brick chimney, approximately 30 feet in height, rises from the north slope of the roof. It is thought to have vented the fire used by the tack factory to heat metal. Foundations are of granite and native stone with some brick infill added over the years.

A granite sluiceway, still inthia aedo operational, runs from the mill pond north to south beneath the approximate center of the original factory building and empties downstream into Third Herring Brook. The tack factory's water wheel and related equipment, once used to run the belt-driven tack machinery, are also still in place beneath the mill, though they have long been out of use. Later additions to the original ca. 1834 mill building are an ell (ca. 1900) and shed (1970) on the north side and a shed (ca. 1900) now used for shipping and receiving on the south side. They areframe construction with shingles over plywood sheathing. The present dam across Third Harring Brook is a reinforced concrete structure with multiple spillways across which are long-unused gates.

A concrete retaining wall starting at the dam extends around the north side of the property and is reinforced at the sluiceway entrance. Dam and retaining wall are thought to have been constructed in the early 20th century.

/Architect n/a Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) The Salmond Tack Factory, built ca. 1834 on a late 18th century mill site, remained in continuous operation for well over 100 years under the direction of several generations of the Salmond family. In this respect it is unique in the history of Norwell: Today the tack tactory bullding, with its intact granite sluiceway, is the last remaining example in Norwell of a water powered mill. Still in place beneath the building, and possibly reclaimable, are the water wheel and related machinery once used to power the tack-making operations above. A grist mill, said to have been built by local entrepreneur, Charles Stockbridge, first He was succeeded by Recompense Tiffany whogave his name both to the pond and to nearby Tiffany Road.

In about 1834 Captain Zephaniah Talbot and Captain Samuel Salmond acquired the water rights and, having constructed the main part of the present structure, established a tack works there. Several generations of the Salmond family continued to operated the tack factory, under the name of Samue1 Salmond & Sons, well into the mid 20th century. Today a printing company operates in and owns the building. 0821 9.