In New England, long winters and thin, rocky soil made large-scale farming difficult.New England farmers often depended on their children for labor. Everyone in the family worked—spinning yarn, milking cows, fencing fields, and sowing and harvesting crops. Women made cloth, garments, candles, and soaps for their families.
Throughout New England were many small businesses. Nearly every town had a mill for grinding grain or sawing lumber. People used waterpower from streams to run the mills. Large towns attracted skilled craftspeople. Among them were blacksmiths, shoemakers, furniture makers, and gunsmiths.
Shipbuilding was an important New England industry. The lumber for building ships came from the region's forests. Workers floated the lumber down rivers to shipyards in coastal towns. The Northern coastal cities served as centers of the colonial shipping trade, linking the Northern Colonies with the Southern Colonies—and America with other parts of the world.
Fishing was also important. Some New Englanders ventured far out to sea to hunt whales for oil and whalebone.
