Rockport Women Smash Liquor Barrels
On this day in 1856, 200 women, some of them wielding hatchets and ranging in age from 37 to 75, rampaged through the town of Rockport destroying every container of alcohol they could find. One eyewitness recorded in his journal: "There has been exciting times a-going on here today." Weeks of planning preceded the five-hour raid. When it was over, the women had spilled hundreds of gallons of liquor. Over the next decade, alcohol sales in the town steadily declined. Rockport became one of several dozen Massachusetts towns where one could not buy liquor. Not until April 2005 would residents vote to permit inns, hotels, and restaurants to serve alcohol with meals. Eight towns in the Commonwealth are still dry today, down from 17 in 2004.
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