Bookmill

Last updated

The Bookmill
TypePrivate
FounderJim Murphy/ Allan Ross
Headquarters,
Products Books
Website Official website
Alvah Stone Mill
USA Massachusetts location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Montague, Massachusetts
Built1834
Architectural style Greek Revival
Part of Montague Center Historic District (ID01001236)
NRHP reference No. 97000562 [1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJune 30, 1997
Designated CPNovember 16, 2001

The Bookmill (sometimes Book Mill) is an independent bookstore in Montague, Massachusetts. The 1834 grist mill it occupies is listed as the Alvah Stone Mill on the National Register of Historic Places.

Contents

The store's motto is "Books you don't need in a place you can't find," [2] and it claims to have "40,000 books and one waterfall." Housed in a 19th-century former gristmill, The Boston Globe called it "a magnet for bibliophiles from the nearby Amherst-Northampton Five College area". [3] In 2005, the Globe devoted an entire article to the bookstore, quoting the owner as saying, "We're not particularly convenient, we're not particularly efficient, but we're beautiful." [4]

The New York Times has described The Bookmill as "the valley's most pristine ambiance for just plain readers" and praised "the Book Mill's cafe, where the baked offerings are superior, as is the view of the rushing waters and the evergreens on the opposite bank, sharply edged against the snow." [5]

Comedian John Hodgman frequents the Bookmill. In a 2013 interview Hodgman claimed "...most dear to my heart The Book Mill and Lady Killigrew in Montague. That’s a used bookstore and great cafe where I would spend every hour of every day even if they didn’t have Wi-Fi, and they do." [6]

Building history

The Bookmill is located at one of the oldest sites in Montague with an industrial history, and is first identified as a mill site in a 1764 map. The central portion of the current building dates to 1834, when the then-standing mill, a grist mill, was rebuilt to also perform the carding and fulling of wool. The foundation of this portion, which houses traces of the old water power works, is of 18th century origin. In 1934, the mill was converted into a machine shop by the Martin Machine Company, which operated here into the 1980s.

In 1987 Jim Murphy and Allen Ross purchased the property and turned it into the bookmill. They built a deck overlooking the Sawmill River. In the building with The Montague Bookmill were restaurants, including The Blue Heron, and other specialty stores and cafes throughout the years, including The Sawmill River Arts Gallery which is a collective of fifteen local artists and celebrating its 10th year in 2020.

David Lovelace and John Petrovato bought the bookmill property in 1992 and it changed hands again in 1999, when Mark Beaubien took ownership. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leverett, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Leverett is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,865 as of the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millers Falls, Massachusetts</span> Census-designated place in Massachusetts, United States

Millers Falls is a census-designated place (CDP) in the towns of Montague and Erving in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,139 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan statistical area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turners Falls, Massachusetts</span> Census-designated place in Massachusetts, United States

Turners Falls is an unincorporated village and census-designated place in the town of Montague in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 4,512 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its name is sometimes used as a metonym for the entire town of Montague, for which it is the business district and comprises more than half the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northampton, Massachusetts</span> City in Massachusetts, United States

The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton was 29,571.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Valley</span> Massachusetts portion of the Connecticut River Valley, US

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district</span> U.S. House district for Massachusetts

Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district is located in central Massachusetts. It contains the cities of Worcester, which is the second-largest city in New England after Boston, and Northampton in the Pioneer Valley. It is represented by Democrat Jim McGovern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stan Rosenberg</span> American politician (born 1949)

Stanley C. Rosenberg is an American politician who served as President of the Massachusetts Senate from January 2015 until December 2017. Rosenberg was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1986 and served as the representative for Amherst and Pelham until 1991 when he won a special election for the State Senate seat being vacated by Congressman John Olver. A Democrat, Rosenberg resigned from the Senate on May 4, 2018, amidst a sexual harassment scandal involving his husband, Bryon Hefner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skug River</span> River in Massachusetts, United States

The Skug River is a 4.9-mile-long (7.9 km) river in North Andover, Andover, and North Reading, Massachusetts that constitutes part of the Ipswich River watershed. A popular etymology gives Skug as a misspelling of Skunk, however the name is more likely derived from the Abenaki skog, meaning snake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Frost Trail</span>

The Robert Frost Trail is a 47-mile (76 km) long footpath that passes through the eastern Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. The trail runs from the Connecticut River in South Hadley, Massachusetts to Ruggles Pond in Wendell State Forest, through both Hampshire and Franklin County and includes a number of scenic features such as the Holyoke Range, Mount Orient, Puffer's Pond, and Mount Toby. The trail is named after the poet Robert Frost, who lived and taught in the area from 1916 to 1938.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damon Mill</span> United States historic place

The Damon Mill is an historic mill complex on the Assabet River and located at 9 Pond Lane in Concord, Massachusetts. The site, which has an industrial history dating to the 17th century, was adapted for the production of textiles in the 19th century, with the surviving complex dating to 1862. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montague Center Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Montague Center Historic District encompasses the well-preserved 19th century village center of Montague, Massachusetts. Montague Center, one of the town's five villages, is the civic heart of the town, and was also an active industrial area in the 19th century. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Whately Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The West Whately Historic District is a historic district encompassing over 700 acres (280 ha) of western Whately, Massachusetts. The area, located in the foothills of The Berkshires above the Connecticut River, has a long agricultural history, but also experienced a surge of industrial activity in the 19th century, of which only fragments remain. The district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, is focused on the areas surrounding West Brook and the areas where there was once industrial activity. From the late 18th century into the early 20th, there were some 16 mill complexes in the area, of which only one still has a surviving structure. The principal elements that survive of this industrial past are foundations and evidence of water works such as dams and millraces. There are only two institutional buildings in the district: the West Whately Chapel, built in the Queen Anne style in 1896, and a schoolhouse that has since been converted to a residence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Worthington Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The South Worthington Historic District is a historic district encompassing the formerly industrial, but now rural, village of South Worthington, Massachusetts. The village is centered on the junction of Huntington Road, Ireland Street, and Thrasher Hill Road. The district extends along Ireland Road as far as Conwell Road, and one contributing element, the dam which impounds Little Galilee Pond, extends into neighboring Chesterfield. The area had a number of small mills along the banks of the Little River, a tributary of the Westfield River, but only one complex, the Theron Higgins Mill on South Worthington Road, has survived from the 19th century. Most of the buildings in the district are residences dating to the 19th century; also included are three churches, including the particularly elegant Greek Revival South Worthington Methodist Church (1848). The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Amherst Center Historic District</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The North Amherst Center Historic District encompasses the center of North Amherst, part of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts. It is a well-preserved example of a traditional farming village, centered at the five-way junction of Meadow, Pine, and North Pleasant Streets, and Sunderland and Montague Roads. The area developed as a village center in the early 19th century, and has been relatively little-changed since the late 19th century. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Lionel Delevingne is an author, journalist, and photojournalist who has lived in the United States since 1975. According to Véronique Prévost of Figaro/Journal Français, "Delevingne is beholden to the lineage of great picture journalists, and his talent, if not his inspiration, makes you think of the master of the genre, Cartier-Bresson."

The Schoolhouse is a mid-19th century public school building that was used as a performance space from 2001–2005. It is located at 30 West Street in the farming town of Hadley in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. The building was originally referred to as "Hadley District School House No. 2". When the space was in use as a performance space it was colloquially referred to as "The Schoolhouse". While in operation, the space hosted a variety of experimental and avant-garde music events featuring local, national, and international artists. Over this period, The Schoolhouse became a major venue in the noise, freak folk, and New Weird America scenes of the mid-aughts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis W. Ross</span> American architect

Louis Warren Ross was an American architect from Boston, Massachusetts, perhaps best known for his work at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he designed over thirty of the campus buildings there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salmon Falls Mill Historic District</span> Historic district in New Hampshire, United States

The Salmon Falls Mill Historic District encompasses a historic mill complex on Front Street in Rollinsford, New Hampshire. The complex includes four major structures and seven smaller ones, on about 14 acres (5.7 ha) of land along the Salmon Falls River. They were built between about 1840 and the mid-1860s, and have an unusual architectural unity, for additions made to the buildings were done with attention to matching design elements from the existing structures. The Number 2 Mill, built in 1848, was an early location where a turbine was used instead of a waterwheel to provide power to the mill machinery. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dwight, Massachusetts</span> Village in Massachusetts

Dwight is a village in north Belchertown, Massachusetts, United States. It was a thriving railroad destination and farming community in the 19th century with lumber mills, two schools, two railroad stations, restaurants, ballrooms, an inn, a general store, post office, and world-renowned flower gardens. Today it is known for its natural beauty, scenic waterfalls, forests, ponds, brooks and hiking trails. It was named for the Dwight family.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. James Sullivan (2006), "Ring Around the Reservoir," The Boston Globe, January 15, 2006, p. M13
  3. Davis, William A. (1996), "Treasures of Turners Falls," The Boston Globe, June 15, 1996, "Living" section, p. 21
  4. Albernaz, Ami (2005), "Books, Board Games, Bliss Pioneer Valley Bookstore Prides Itself on Quirks and Homespun Character." The Boston Globe, January 30, 2005, "Travel" section, p. M11. The article opens: "Of the many quirks in the Montague Bookmill, a bookstore and cafe just outside Amherst and Northampton, perhaps the most serendipitous are on its bathroom walls. Hundreds of clippings and pinups vie for attention: 'Author Mailer's Wife Fighting For Her Life,' blares the headline of the yellowed New York Post article from 1960, above the subhead stating that Norman Mailer denies stabbing her in the back and abdomen with a pen knife. 'President Frank Zappa in 1992! The Only Sane Choice,' proclaims the poster directly above the toilet. Then there is the Star exclusive photo of Daryl Hannah's fake finger, Abbie Hoffman urging political activism in young people, and a Hungarian transportation map."
  5. Peter Hellman (March 13, 1998). "WEEKEND EXCURSION; Every Town Is One for the Books". The New York Times. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  6. "Paradise City Press John Hodgman on Western Mass Culture : Local Food, Music and Internet". www.paradisecitypress.org. Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  7. "NRHP nomination for Alvah Stone Mill". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved February 15, 2016.

42°32′16″N72°32′14″W / 42.537833°N 72.537274°W / 42.537833; -72.537274