In 1844 the Old Colony Railroad corporation then building their road from Boston to Plymouth, bought the estate and built and furnished the Samoset House, which was opened in 1845, under the management of Joseph Stetson, who was employed by the road for the purpose. Mr. Stetson was succeeded by James S. Parker and Henry C. Tribou, under the firm name of Parker & Tribou, who kept it under the direction of the railroad until 1850. In that year the house and furniture were sold to the Samoset House Association, who leased it until 1878, at various times to the following persons in the order named: Granville Gardner and Henry C. Tribou, under the firm name of Gardner & Tribou, James S. Parker, A. & N. Hoxie, Comfort Whiting and Peleg C. Chandler. In 1878, while Mr. Chandler was lessee, he bought the estate, and in 1882 his widow sold it, exclusive of house lots at its westerly end to T. F. Frobisher. In 1883 Mr. Frobisher sold the above remaining estate to Daniel H. Maynard, who sold it a few years ago to the present proprietors, James S. Clark and the late Edward E. Green doing business under the firm name of Clark & Green. While I am wandering about the North part of the town, let me speak of Bourne Spooner, who having been dead thirty-five years, cannot be remembered by any of my readers who are much less than fifty years of age. Few are aware to whom the town was indebted, for the establishment of the Plymouth Cordage Co., a corporation filling so large a place among the industries of the town, and which with its growing proportions promises to stand many years as a conspicuous and deserved monument to his memory. He was a son of Nathaniel and Mary (Holmes) Spooner, and was born in Plymouth, February 2, 1790. After receiving the education which our public schools could furnish, he went to New Orleans, where he spent ten years engaged in rope making, but in what capacity I have no means of knowing. It is probable that the material used in the manufacture was Kentucky hemp, as its transportation from the hemp fields by the Mississippi river was easy and cheap. It is doubtful whether sisal from Mexico was much used in those days and Russia hemp and Manilla could be obtained in Boston more expeditiously and cheaper than in New Orleans. The unprofitableness of slave labor employed in that city appealed to his Yankee spirit of thrift, and he conceived the idea of establishing if possible a cordage factory in his native town. Returning home he kept for a time a store opposite the Green, and later conferred with a number of gentlemen in Boston, who looked favorably on the scheme of a Plymouth factory, and on the 12th of July, 1824, an act of incorporation was granted by the Massachusetts legislature to Bourne Spooner, William Lovering, Jr., John Dodd and John Russell, and their associates, as the Plymouth Cordage Company, with power to hold real estate not exceeding twenty thousand dollars. The location