The Aldrich mill

So here is the bright red mill building--Aldrich Mill--which we passed on our way to the dino tracks place last weekend.



Look at its lovely foundations. . .



And the Batchelor Brook, streaming away beside it



The earliest mill on this site was used as a distillery, but this mill was built in 1836 to manufacture woolen goods. The Aldrich family acquired an interest in it in the 1840s, and from 1860 on, it was solely theirs. During the Civil War, it manufactured wool blankets. In 1870, it became a grist mill, and in 1913 a blacksmith shop. (Sources for these facts are here. and here. Mr. Nash told us some of them, but I refreshed my memory by searching online.)

Why did the mill have a bell? Maybe for calling people to work?





In the 1940s, a water wheel was added, but never used. The water wheel isn't on anymore--at least, we couldn't see evidence of it--but here's a picture of what it looked like.

It's still owned by the Aldrich family, according to Mr. Nash.

open-mouthed birds

I saw a sparrow hopping around in the noonday sun. It had its mouth open--panting.

And then there's a young red-tailed hawk who lives nearby who cries like a seagull all the time. He cries in flight, he cries when he's sitting on a post or tree. Not that famous red-tailed hawk scream. No, this is less terrifying and more querelous, or maybe brooding, or slightly grumbly. Sometimes seagulls do pass this way. Maybe this hawk had a seagull as a babysitter. Anyway, I've seen this hawk in flight, with his mouth open, crying a seagull cry.