Town’s shipbuilding past lives on at museum

ESSEX, Mass. (AP) – For decades, the bell in the steeple of the First Congregational Church set the rhythm of daily life in this tiny shipbuilding town. It woke shipyard workers at dawn, interrupted the pounding of their wooden mallets at lunch, then tolled again when it was time for the workers to trudge home, often hauling scrap wood for the fire.