Taylor Mill State Historic Site | |
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Location | Derry, New Hampshire, United States |
Coordinates | 42°52′32″N71°14′21″W / 42.875603°N 71.239217°W Coordinates: 42°52′32″N71°14′21″W / 42.875603°N 71.239217°W |
Elevation | 269 feet (82 m) [1] |
Administered by | New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation & New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands |
Designation | New Hampshire state park |
Website | Taylor Mill Historic Site |
The Taylor Mill State Historic Site is a state park of New Hampshire located in 71-acre Ballard State Forest in Derry, Rockingham County, in the southeast part of the state. The site is created to protect the 1799 mill known as Taylor Up and Down Sawmill. The sawmill is in operation and is open for visitors on weekends during the summer. [2] The site is located on Island Pond Road, east of the downtown of Derry.
Robert Taylor, an early owner of the sawmill, bought the land in 1799. The mill went in operation in the 1800s. It is unknown when it ceased operation. In 1939, the land was sold to Ernest Ballard. By that time, the original mill was scrapped, and Ballard bought a similar mill, which was disassembled, in Sandown, New Hampshire. Ballard and his wife spent two years assembling it and identifying missing parts. The most notable missing part was the water wheel, which he ordered from a company in Pennsylvania. In 1953, Ernest Ballard donated the mill and the land to the state of New Hampshire in 1953. [2] This 71-acre (29 ha) property became Ballard State Forest, and the pond above the mill is known as Ballard Pond. [3]
The water wheel is 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter and 6 feet (1.8 m) wide. The logs which can be sawed at the mill can not exceed 10 feet (3.0 m) in length and 28 inches (71 cm) in diameter. The mill operates at 60 strokes per minute. [2] By operation type, the mill is an up and down mill, which is a mechanized version of a usual saw. This is an outdated technology, which was replaced by water-powered circular saw around 1825. Taylor Mill is one of the few examples of a surviving mill using this technology. [3]
Derry is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 34,317 at the 2020 census. Although it is a town and not a city, Derry is the most populous community in Rockingham County and the fourth most populous in the state. The town's nickname, "Spacetown", derives from the fact that Derry is the birthplace of Alan Shepard, the first astronaut from the United States in space. Derry was also for a time the home of the poet Robert Frost and his family.
Alexander "Boss" Gibson was a Canadian industrialist in New Brunswick, Canada. His business interests included sawmills, railways, and a cotton mill. He founded the company town of Marysville, New Brunswick.
Conway Lake is a 1,316-acre (5 km2) water body with a maximum depth of 45 feet (14 m), located in Carroll County in eastern New Hampshire, in the United States. The lake is located in the towns of Conway and Eaton, just to the east of the White Mountains, and is part of the Saco River watershed.
Equinunk is a village in Buckingham and Manchester Townships in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community's name is pronounced EE-kwi-nunk.
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The River Teise is a tributary of the River Medway in Kent, England.
The Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for over 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. These uses included corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article covers the watermills on the tributaries that feed in below Penshurst and above Yalding.
The River Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for more than 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. Many different processes were performed by the use of water power:- corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable-oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article deals with the watermills on the tributaries that feed in below Yalding.
The Marine Mill, established in 1839, was the first commercial sawmill in what became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Now in ruins, it is currently a historic site managed by the city of Marine on St. Croix in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Marine Mill Site in 1970 for having state-level significance in the themes of exploration/settlement, industry, and transportation. It was nominated for being the birthplace of the region's seminal industry—lumbering—and a major landing on its crucial transportation route, the St. Croix River. The site is also a contributing property to the Marine on St. Croix Historic District.
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The Garland Mill is a historic sawmill on Garland Road in Lancaster, New Hampshire. Built about 1860, and repeatedly modified to adapt to growth and new technology, it is the only water-powered sawmill in the state. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Messerschmidt Pond Wildlife Management Area is a tract of land in Westbrook and Deep River, Connecticut, adjacent to Cockaponset State Forest. The area includes the millpond and former site of the Deep River Manufacturing Company, which preserved a variety of historic manufacturing machinery until its demolition in 1987. The mill and an associated shed and dam were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
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Ballard State Forest is a state forest of New Hampshire located in Derry, Rockingham County, in the southeast part of the state. The area of the park is 71 acres (0.29 km2). It includes the Taylor Mill Historic Site, an old sawmill, and Ballard Pond, which provides water for the mill. The forest is located on Island Pond Road, east of the downtown of Derry. The pond drains via Taylor Brook and Island Pond into the Spicket River, a tributary of the Merrimack River.
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Willard Pond is a small, protected lake in Antrim, New Hampshire, United States. The lake, located in southwestern New Hampshire, is about 108 acres (44 ha) in size with an average depth of 25 feet (7.6 m) and a maximum depth of 58 feet (18 m). No petroleum motors are allowed, and fly fishing is the only form of fishing allowed. It is part of the dePierrefeu Wildlife Sanctuary, which is owned by the New Hampshire Audubon Society. Because the pond and the land around it are part of the sanctuary, the shore is unable to be developed. Therefore, there are no buildings around the pond and there won't be in the foreseeable future. Willard is instead surrounded by extensive amounts of wilderness and hiking trails that lead around the pond and to the summits of Bald Mountain and Goodhue Hill. Willard is a popular fishing, boating and hiking destination, and it has become more popular with its mention in numerous magazines and newspapers.