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Conjectural drawing by John Goff of Clap’s Corner with Willow Court leading to the South Bay where the tidal grist mill was located. In the illustration, the tannery building is at the left.
The Clapps’ colonial enterprises were strung along Willow Court. The court (now partially Enterprise Street) was named for five massive willow trees that lined the road. The street was nestled between the “causeway road to the little neck” (now Boston Street to Andrew Square) and another road that skirted the swampy marshes of the south bay. The Clapps’ gristmill was at the water’s edge, while the tanning yard, operated by Nicholas’s descendants, Lemuel and his son William, anchored the upper end of the road near Boston Street. Captain Lemuel Clap’s House (William’s boyhood home) lay between the two. Extended families both worked together and lived together, forming an extensive support system. William built his mansion adjacent to his business and near his father’s home. More house lots were laid out on the estate as William Clapp’s sons and then grandchildren matured and married.
Early Clap family members owned and operated a tidal gristmill that was located near the end of a creek almost at the edge of the South Cove, approximately where the Super Stop & Shop building is today in the South Bay Shopping Center. Tidal mills created a mill pond by closing the dam gates when the tide was at its peak; then the water in the impound could be used to power the mill when the tide was low enough to allow a flow out of the pond. In the colonial period, the mill had a dam that connected Clapp’s Point at the mill to Black Point on the Roxbury side of the South Cove or South Bay, creating a mill pond that covered about an acre of land. The dam was made of sawn wood planks driven into the mud of the marshland with earth piled up against the wooden wall. Pieces were recovered when the South Bay was last dredged for navigation improvement before 1910. Probably, there was a low end on the west side of the dam, allowing the creation of a spillway. In the middle, there would have been a pair of large swinging wooden tide gates, and the Clap’s Mill stood on the east end. The mill would have been powered by an undershot waterwheel, connected to hand hewn wood shafts and wooden gears.
The pond was fed by Mill Creek as well as by the tide. When the tide had reached its full, the gates were closed to trap the water to be used to run the wheel when the tide ebbed. The spillway let out excess water if the creek was especially active. The chief reason that the NStar plant is skewed at an odd angle to Massachusetts Avenue is because the southwest side runs close to the original line of Mill Creek. All of the land on Massachusetts Avenue now owned by NStar was once waterfront next to the Creek and the South Cove.
At mid-century, Dorchester was a mix of old farms and burgeoning suburban neighborhoods. William’s grandchildren took on the trappings of middle-class Victorian householders. Most married into local families. They went to tea or drank lemonade on open porches as their children played on grassy lawns in the shadow of the old manse.
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Silhouette of William Clapp
Cut paper with eglomise surround
Gift of Frank L. Clap, 1953
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Framed commission for William Clapp. Commission to William Clapp by Governor James Sullivan — commission as ensign in the first regiment of infantry in the first brigade, first division, June 29, 1808.
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Receipt to William Clapp for payment for fifeing for his military company, May 28, 1916
Tanning, the Family Business
William Clapp, like generations of Clapps before him, was a tanner by trade. As a prosperous tradesman, William was a respected member of the community. He took an active interest in church, social, and civic affairs.
Tanning, the process of making animal hides into leather, emerged as a major industry in the old town and provided a handful of Dorchester families, especially the Clapps and the Humphreys, with a very comfortable living. William Clapp not only produced a range of leathers at the large yard, he also extended the family business to include importing fine Moroccan leather on a modest scale. William’s three sons learned the trade at his side.
Why was tanning so profitable? Leather was an important material in the colonial period and long into the 19th century. It was used for shoes, saddles, boots, harnesses, clothing, bellows, trunks, and many other useful items. Tanning was a physically demanding and lengthy process, making leather a relatively expensive commodity. Willow Court, located on the South Bay marsh and fed by several creeks, was ideally suited for a tannery.
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page from account book from 1809
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tanyard
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trunk