Mike, first place to start with is The Society for the Preservation of Old
Mills - SPOOM - www.spoom.org. More mills than you want to know about.  Now
when that whets your appetite....

Gomez Mill House. At our Gomez Mill House, there were three mills. In 1714
the first owner had a certificate of denization that allowed him to buy and
sell property (more to the story than that!) and he then built a saw mill on
"Jews Creek." . So he sold the land to the new families and then the new
settler carried the timber to the mill and Mr. Gomez cut it into planks to
build their homes. Good thinking.

The next owner, Wolfert Acker or Ecker - in 1772 - added a grist mill to
take care of the crops of the farmers in the area.

Both men were, of course, in business to make a profit with the mills.

The third owner - 1912 to 1918 - was the artist and papermaker, Dard Hunter.
He built his mill in the shape of a Devonshire cottage - rye thatched roof,
wooden beams, old brick, wooden wheel -and experimented in and taught
papermaking. And like all teaching, didn't do it for the profit.

You can see how the first two mills followed each other naturally. The third
mill - and the one restored - was an artist's studio.

The NY 3rd graders learn about the "community." Certainly the mills were a
center of community activity.

Check out www.gomez.org for more details or better yet, come visit.

Bill Maurer
Director



 -----Original Message-----
From: A LISTSERV list for discussions pertaining to New York State history.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of M. Riley
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 6:42 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: 19th century waterpower


  Greetings to the List,

  I am working on a paper about 19th century waterpower, and it's impact on
society. I have been scanning the net for web sites related to this topic,
but would like to find all the working grist, saw and any other mills in New
York State and our neighboring states.

  I also would like some ideas on books or papers that could help me
understand how these mills impacted the local economy.

  Mike Riley
  Town of Mentz Historian and Empire State College student.