Consolidated Cape Cod Cranberry Company Collection
DAL.SMS.080

Collection Overview:
Title: Consolidated Cape Cod Cranberry Company Collection
Dates: 1907
Creator: Laurence Bradford
Call Number: DAL.SMS.080
Repository: Drew Archival Library
Location: Small Collections Box 3
Language: English

Administrative Information:
Access Restrictions: The Collection is open to researchers, no restrictions
Acquisition Information: donated by Gershom Bradford
Preferred form of citation: DAL.SMS.080, Consolidated Cape Cod Cranberry Company Collection in the Drew Archival Library of the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society
Finding Aid prepared by: Carolyn Ravenscroft, Jan, 2015

Scope and Content:

The collection consists of a prospectus issued by the Consolidated Cape Cod  Cranberry Company (Five C’s) in 1907. Part One of the prospectus describes the company’s holdings and earnings with testimonials. Part Two is a description of the cranberry industry and its history. Also included in the collection are two letters to Laurence Bradford of Duxbury referencing the sale of land to the company by attorneys Robert S. Gorham and Henry L. Shattuck.

Biographical Sketch:

The Consolidated Cape Cod Cranberry Co. was a corporation formed for the purpose of acquiring, owning and developing land for the growing and sale of cranberries. The company owned 760 acres in North Duxbury, MA, 126 of which were planted with cranberries between 1903-1905. The prospectus indicates that an additional 300 acres would be developed. The bogs were primarily on land that is now Camp Wing in Duxbury.

Laurence Bradford (1842-1909) was the son of Maria W. Bradford and Rev. Claudius Bradford. He was the grandson of Capt. Gershom Bradford and eventually inherited the family homestead on Tremont Street in Duxbury. Laurence’s sons, Gershom and Edward, donated the Bradford House to the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society in 1968.

Laurence was born in Hubbardston, MA and went to sea as a mariner when a teenager. He served in the US Navy during the Civil War. After the war he attended the Lowell School and MIT, earning a degree in civil engineering. He married Hattie Phipps of Kingston, MA. Laurence was also a real estate developer, responsible for creating the Abrams Hill neighborhood in Duxbury, among other projects. He was very active in civic affairs during his lifetime and authored a book, Historic Duxbury in Plymouth County.