Tide Mill Institute is confronting the COVID-19 crisis by hosting its 17th annual conference on line Saturday, November 14, at 10 a.m.

This year, the online “mini-conference” via Zoom video conferencing requires us to be brief, but you shouldn’t miss it. TMI will feature the world premier of a video about historic tide mills in southern Maine. Other features of this Zoom event include presentations about an unusual tide mill swindle in Lubec, Maine, and a sensitively shared story about a Virginia tide mill that still has its original machinery and other molinological tidbits.

Some details:

Tide Mills of Kittery. The idea for this film emerged after speakers at last year’s conference and a local film-maker realized the value of joining forces to retell their story in a more effective, visual way, with striking drone photography of actual sites and interviews with tide mill historians. TMI obtained funding for the project from the Maine Humanities Council. Watch the film’s promotional trailer.

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The Maine Humanities Council announced on March 27 the recipients of the second round of major grants to celebrate the state’s bicentennial. Included was a $5,500 grant to the Tide Mill Institute to produce and show a film about Kittery’s tide mill history.

The idea for this project originated at the Tide Mill Institute’s 2019 annual meeting. Informed by research and local knowledge, presentations by Fred Perry, Deane Rykerson and John Viele revealed at least seven and possibly nine historic tide mills in Kittery’s past. The use of tidal water power for milling lumber and grain, while common in early America, is largely forgotten history.

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The House and Home Magazine, a lifestyle magazine covering the area of Virginia from Richmond to Chesapeake Bay, features an article about the Poplar Grove tide mill in Port Haywood by Bob Cerullo in its February/March 2020 issue. The article provides an brief overview of how tide mill technology was probably born in Ireland and then brought to the colonies by English settlers.

Cerullo skillfully describes the origins and operating history of the tide mill at Poplar Grove, one of the few remaining North American tide mills with intact machinery. He also covers the associated Poplar Grove Mansion, which has its own intriguing story spanning colonial times, the Revolutionary and Civil wars, and recent efforts to preserve and maintain it.

The article is accompanied by several impressive photos of the site, taken mostly by the author.

Link to “Poplar Grove and Its Tide Mill” in House and Home Magazine.

Last week a small team of TMI members continued cataloging tide mill research materials gathered by historian Peveril Meigs III (1903-1979) in the 1960s and 1970s. Donated recently to TMI by the Meigs family, these materials consist of five large boxes of file folders containing an estimated 4,000 or more total pages of letters, notes, photos, newspaper clippings, maps, pamphlets and sketches. Dr. Meigs intended to write a comprehensive history of tide mills from Nova Scotia to Florida, but he died before completing the volume he envisioned.

During a recent six-hour work session, the three-person TMI team continued systematically inspecting the boxes and folders and recording their contents in Excel spreadsheets for later review and analysis. After this cataloging step is finished, the materials will be organized for eventual deposit in an academic museum archive. Meanwhile, a professional archivist has volunteered to advise TMI workers about proper archiving procedures as they proceed further.

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The Tide Mill Institute has received a contribution of $2,000 from the Joseph Warren Foundation for the continuance of its work in the history of tide mills and in the use of tidal energy.

Named for Doctor Joseph Warren, who gave his life at the Battle of Bunker Hill, the foundation supports scientific and education projects, historic preservation initiatives including maritime preservation and the study and preservation of industrial archaeological sites.

Members of TMI’s board of directors expressed gratitude for the funding and noted that the generous contribution will help defray costs of TMI research activities and future conferences.

Efforts to restore the 225-year-old Van Wyck-Lefferts tide mill in Huntington, N.Y., continued at a steady pace through 2019, according to a recent report. In a letter to neighbors and friends of the tide mill and its associated waterfowl sanctuary, Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, Inc., listed an impressive number of accomplishments for the year, including securing tax-exempt status, raising $80,000 in donations and commitments, and selecting a contractor to complete critical repairs to the mill dam.

Continue reading “Long Island Tide Mill Restoration Moves Forward” →