The now quiet town of Unity actually has a long industrial history. The area down by Sandy Stream is only one of many industrial sites, but it is a good example because it’s close to the downtown and because we can document so many overlapping activities over so long a time.
The first evidence of industry was from the 1830s, and it was multiple--- a brick-works (with pits, a kiln, and bricks laid out), but also a tannery. Probably the bricks were made from the clay removed from digging the tanning pits. The tannery flourished until the late 1850s and was seen as a leading-edge example of modern technology at the time.
Farm construction affected the site after that—rough stone walls, a barn with foundations, and earth and stoneworks, all associated with the stream-side field to the southwest of the tannery and brickworks.
This was followed by a metalwork shop shortly before and into the 20th Century, and written evidence of a light sawmill around that time. Later uses of the site were for a storm-water cistern, a pipe for water intake to a garage on Main Street, and some gravel mining associated with a road near the present footbridge.
It’s worth remembering that until the early 20th Century in America, a lot of industry was local industry…this is where most things got manufactured. It’s also worth remembering that Unity was more technologically self-sufficient then, in ways it no longer is. A third point is that industries like the tannery, ones that depend on overuse of local resources, go through a cycle of boom and bust.
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