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A Well Regulated Emporium

October 9, 2014 by Guest Blogger Leave a Comment

 

Fly Market, New York City, 1817 view. New York Public Library.

Fly Market, New York City, 1817 view. New York Public Library.

The weekly Williamsburg market was a bustling forum that spread across a large paved area, defining the limits of the “market place” on the south side of the Duke of Gloucester Street. Shoppers heard the pattering cries of vendors hawking their wares to shoppers, and encountered a bevy of smells from fresh comestibles arranged in open stands, baskets, or hung from hooks, to the more powerful aromas of fish and oysters packed in barrels carefully placed in a far corner. Though it may have appeared to the uninitiated as a frenzied clamor of people haggling over the best cuts of meat or the lowest price for a dozen eggs, market day was a carefully orchestrated event that was governed by a set of rules and regulations established by the mayor and aldermen of the city, known as the Common Hall, and enforced by the clerk of the market.

Vegetable seller, London, early 19th century, George Scharf, ©The Trustees of the British Museum.

Vegetable seller, London, early 19th century, George Scharf, ©The Trustees of the British Museum.

Rather than a freewheeling environment, the Williamsburg market, like all English and American markets of the period, was intended to provide householders with equitable access at reasonable prices to the “necessities of life,” as they were called. The market place was instilled by the ethos of a “moral economy” rather than an unabated capitalist one. Food supplies left unrestricted to the laws of supply and demand were seen as deleterious to the community. This attitude derived from deep-seated Christian tenets tinged with folk memories of famines that had resulted from crop failures during the late Elizabethan period.

This ethical perspective went hand in hand with the belief that a hungry population was a dangerous one. An echo of that fear appeared during the Revolution when inflation threatened to disrupt the orderly victualing of Williamsburg’s population. Hence magistrates set the maximum price for basic items such as meat, poultry, cheese, eggs, butter, and other goods. Strict market hours, clearly defined market boundaries, and laws against forestalling, regrating, and engrossing were intended to protect consumers from unscrupulous practices of hording, collusion, and price gouging. Sign boards in the market house posted regulations, prices, and market hours. Ideally, the householders of Williamsburg could procure their daily provisions at a single convenient location and choose among several competing vendors. After the clerk rang the bell to signal the end of the market for householders, regulations were relaxed and hucksters and retailers—including tavern keepers such as Henry Wetherburn who required larger quantities of produce for his customers—were allowed to make purchases for resale at higher prices.

By consolidating market activities, the municipality could better enforce health codes, clean and police the market, and collect revenues. Everything from the maximum price for a pound of beef to the official weight of a bushel of wheat was determined by the court and enforced by the clerk. When disputes between buyers and sellers arose, he examined the disputed goods using the corporate weights and measures. Those found putting lard at the bottom of a firkin of butter or using private scales that were rigged had their goods seized and sold for the public good and their faulty devices destroyed. The clerk also had the power to seize and destroy “blow meat, leprous swine,” and other goods that might endanger the health of the community. He registered sales and collected a percentage of the transactions so that money entered into public coffers as a sales tax. Some this money went back to the market to pay for its upkeep and make improvements in its services. (Click on images for captions and to enlarge).[envira-gallery id=”15975″]

 Contributed by Carl Lounsbury, Architectural Historian.

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Comments

  1. Jim Mackay says

    November 19, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    Carl —

    Great to see this underway, as well as a blog about it. Can’t wait to see it completed and functioning.

    Now if we only had a place to reconstruct ours . . .

    Reply
  2. gareth says

    November 1, 2014 at 3:04 pm

    …”Come all ye and buy my wares…”
    This article come alive for me. Williamsburg was real and full of life..with sounds and smells and real characters…Besides the Market House, which reflected the mercantillism of the day at the level of the local community..
    u can still fimd these ‘Market House’s’ across the UK ….although the mall and
    the 7-11 have taken the wind out of their sails…But the Local markets are now active in the UK and down under in Austraia…
    Thank you for ur dedication..
    gareth price : Noosa, Qld. Aust.

    Reply
    • Carl Lounsbury says

      November 3, 2014 at 3:29 pm

      Gareth:
      Yes, eighteenth-century markets were vibrant places. One of the best recreations of one of them appears in the opening of the early 1960s film Tom Jones. Geese cackle, hucksters cry their wares, tricksters and entertainers beguile onlookers, and shoppers step over, around, and in the mucky refuse produced by the people and animals in this busy emporium.
      Perhaps the recent interest in eating local produce will lead to the revival of market days. We already see some of that here in Williamsburg where our Saturday morning market in Merchants Square draws large crowds.

      Reply
  3. Marie Millen says

    October 10, 2014 at 9:28 am

    This article was very interesting. I really enjoyed reading about the marketplace as well as the pictures! The picture of the High Street Market reminds me of our own West Side Market here in Cleveland. Will be visiting in a few weeks can’t wait to stop by and see the progress!!!

    By the way, off the subject; is it possible to have the webcam include that beautiful tree next to the Courthouse, it is magnificent this time of the year!! Thank you so much for this article…

    Reply
    • Carl Lounsbury says

      November 3, 2014 at 3:22 pm

      Marie:
      Thanks for message about market day in eighteenth-century Williamsburg. As early as the 1930s, Colonial Williamsburg has been interested in recreating the market house and now we are finally in the process of realizing Dr. W. A. R. Goodwin’s aspirations for the site. Our research has taken us to many market places in America and England and it is good to see their revival in so many towns in recent years.
      I am not sure what we can do about the leaf display in the tree next to the courthouse for the webcam. All I can say is come to Williamsburg in the next few weeks as many of our trees now glisten in the low raking afternoon light with their autumnal red, gold, orange, and yellow highlights.

      Reply

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