sawmill - Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts - Water Mills on Waymarking.com

This sawmill was reproduced by Old Sturbridge Village in 1984.

This rare water-powered sawmill — erected on the millpond site that David Wight, Jr., first created in the 1790s — is used to cut lumber for Old Sturbridge Village and other historic sites. The Sawmill is based on what had been one of the oldest surviving sawmills in the area: the Nichols-Colby Sawmill of Bow, New Hampshire, which was destroyed in a 1938 hurricane. The up-and-down saw is connected to a wheel driven by water power.

Although the Village demonstrates sawmilling in spring, summer, and fall, rural mills were busiest during late winter and early spring, when waterpower was most abundant and the demands of farming were less pressing. Sawmill account books suggest that since it was so difficult and expensive to transport logs and lumber, mills like this one concentrated on custom production for local customers.

Current Status: Still In Use Current Use: museum

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Date Logged Log User Rating   08/20/2022 chrissyml visited it 08/07/2016 Alfie and Artie visited it 08/06/2016 Alfie and Artie visited it 06/11/2016 Alfie and Artie visited it 05/28/2016 Alfie and Artie visited it 02/21/2016 Alfie and Artie visited it 11/27/2015 Alfie and Artie visited it 11/07/2015 Alfie and Artie visited it 11/04/2015 Alfie and Artie visited it 07/13/2013 buffalohiker visited it 10/20/2008 RickAnn visited it

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