Photo: Kim Tunnicliffe (WBZ NewsRadio)
MANCHESTER-BY-THE-SEA, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Once the economic backbone of Massachusetts, the forgotten practice of curing salted cod is now on display at the Manchester Historical Museum.
The backyard of the museum has been turned into an 18th century salt cod fishery exhibit, complete with 200-year-old authentic equipment. The outdoor exhibit shows visitors how coastal workers in the 18th and 19th centuries would dry out and cure cod caught by local fishermen, then sell the fish to merchants who would take it to Europe.
It was a booming business for Massachusetts in a time before refrigeration and put the Bay State on the map, according to museum director Bob Booth.
"It was the mainstay business of Massachusetts, both when it was colonial and after we won our independence, right into the 1840s," Booth told WBZ NewsRadio. "So many of the towns along the coast depended on a fishery."
The cod became a symbol of prosperity, and early state leaders even commissioned a tribute to the fish at the Massachusetts State House.
"When the state house was built in 1795, and it’s still true, hanging over the House of Representatives is a five-foot painted up model of a cod fish," Booth said. "So the sacred cod represents the life and work of many, many generations of Massachusetts people."
The cod exhibit will be on display through Saturday, Sept. 9.
WBZ's Kim Tunnicliffe (@KimWBZ) reports.
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