Benjamin Franklin Attends Mitten Festival

COURT HOUSE – The rains came but the vendors and crowds did not. That was the unfortunate result of the Cape May County Historical and Genealogical Society’s event celebrating an early cottage industry in the county. Hoping the weather would clear, organizers went ahead with the Mitten Festival Oct. 11 but the majority of the vendors scheduled to appear cancelled and the attendance was not what one would expect on a clear day at the largely outdoor event.
The day was meant to commemorate one of the county’s oldest industries, the mitten trade. The phrase is a catchall for a broad-based textile industry that flourished in Cape May County. According to local historian J. P. Hand, “by the mid 1700s, this cottage industry was the fourth largest source of income in colonial Cape May.” A focal point for the festival was the claim by Benjamin Franklin that he and his wife had inadvertently promoted the early industry.
As the story goes, Franklin and his wife wished to thank the captain of a trading vessel for a kindness done them. He would not accept pay. Upon learning that the captain had a daughter, the Franklins sent an attractive knitted cap for the girl. Once she wore it to church, the other girls all decided they wanted one as well. A few years later, the skipper told Franklin that this set off “our Girls upon Knitting worsted Mittens for Sale at Philadelphia.” Thus the knitting and textile industry began in the county.
Franklin himself was on hand at the festival to give testimony to the truthfulness of the story. With Cape Bank as a sponsor of the event, J. Ward Larkin, a well-know interpreter of Franklin made an appearance at the festival. A short 12-minute film produced by Jim Talone also took those in attendance back in time and related the origins of the industry. For those who braved the weather, tours of the Cresse-Holmes House were also available.
The festival achieved it main goal, which was to highlight a little known but important piece of the county’s history. The knitting and textile industry continued to be an important economic activity in the area into the 20th century. The old brick depression era building at 502 South Main Street in Court House was once a state-of-the-art facility for the production of women’s apparel as the Colonial Knitting Mill. In the days before synthetic fibers, the mill produced 1,250 pairs of ladies hosiery a week and provided employment across two shifts a day.
If Franklin’s actions really helped launch the knitting and textile industry in the county, we have one more thing to add to the long list of achievements for which we owe him thanks. There may be room for doubt in some of the anecdote, but there is no doubt about the fact that the industry was an important part of the early county economy. The Cape May Historical Society has done its job in reminding us of that fact.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.