In 1855, a partnership was established in Graniteville, Massachusetts “under the name of Abbot Worsted Company by John W. Abbot, John W. P. Abbot and Charles G. Sargent, special partners, to manufacture fine worsted yarn braid and upholstery yarn, employing 20 hands.” For the next 100 years, the company would operate multiple spinning mills in Westford, forever changing the character of the small farming community.
This presentation will report not only the evolution and growth of the company, but also how it drove the social and economic structure of the town. Becoming the largest manufacturer of carpet worsted yarns in the world by 1916, it provided low cost housing, medical care, and social and recreational opportunities for employees and their families.
Penny Lacroix is the former director of the Westford Museum. She has since made fiber arts –specifically weaving and spinning – her fulltime business. With fiber arts in her soul, Penny started weaving in the early 2000s. She has amassed several looms and spinning wheels over the years, which she uses to explore the multitude of ideas that keep presenting themselves. As co-chair of the Nashoba Valley Weavers’ Guild, she loves the opportunities to associate with spinners and weavers of all levels and other people in the arts community. She recently completed the Exploration in Advanced Weaving program with Laurie Autio and the Apprentice rating through the Weavers’ Guild of Boston. Penny teaches weaving and spinning and presents textile programs to guilds and at historical venues. Penoix’s Weave Studio is based in her home in Westford, which she shares with her husband and their furry friends. Her two grown children happily come and go.
As the newly-hired Museum Director in 2007, she put together an exhibit on the Abbot Worsted Company, perhaps the most influential business in the history of Westford. She recently resurrected the research from that exhibit and assembled an updated presentation for the Weaving History Conference at the Thousand Island Art Center (via Zoom.) Suggested Donation $10 per/person
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