Blubber Hollow
From Salem Links and Lore
- Blubber Hollow sits at the base of Gallows Hill. The area may have derived its name from the whale blubber from which tanning oils where once extracted.
- Many early tanneries were built on the slopes of Gallows Hill itself, and a number of streets in that area, including Varney, Putnam, Nichols and Pope, bear the names of their owners.
- By the mid 1850's, more than eighty tanning and currying shops were operating in the hollow and along both sides of the North River, employing in 550 workers. By 1885, that number had doubled.
- The leather industry suffered a blow after a five-month strike that turned violent, the industry declined. By 1920 most of the shops had closed, victims of labor problems, competition from Mid-west companies and scarcity of bark mulch needed for tanning, and the Salem fire of 1914.
