New Tide Mill Video – Not Just for Locals

Even if you haven’t visited southern Maine, you’re still sure to enjoy The Tide Mills of Kittery, a new 34-minute video about tide mill technology and history, exploring several abandoned tide mill sites between Kennebunkport, Maine, and Hampton, N.H. By themselves, the superb aerial video segments by Jim White are enough to make viewing well worth your time.

This video premiered at the annual conference of the Tide Mill Institute, held on line in mid-November, and all are now invited to watch it by clicking the link at the end of this announcement. The drone’s eye views of tide mill sites gives us a new way to examine these somewhat hidden landscapes.  After decades of tide mill enthusiasts dealing with muddy boots or looking down from satellites with Google Earth, we now have a fantastic tool to see this history in our own backyards and in great detail.

The tour starts with a welcome by Bud Warren, a Tide Mill Institute founder and former president. Bud explains the role of tide mills in American Colonial history and describes how ingenious millers trapped seawater from the incoming tide and then released it through a channel to power water wheels or turbines. This mechanical power was then harnessed to grind grain, saw timber and perform other tasks formerly requiring human or animal muscle power.

Next, historian John Viele takes us to the Thompson tide mill dam, built about 1694 on Spruce Creek. With John’s assistance, you’ll pick out mill stones, an outline of the mill foundation, pilings and other features that would be meaningless to the uninitiated. A little farther up the Piscataqua River, in Eliot, you’ll visit the site of Elisha Shapleigh’s tide-powered corn and saw mills, which operated from 1816 to 1896.

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The video then takes you on a journey, at ground level and in the air, covering several tide mill sites dotting the map in and around Kittery. Even locals haven’t seen some of these sites, since they’re on or bounded by private property. And those who have seen remains of tide mill dams and other features may not have recognized them for what they are.

Deane Rykerson, the new president of the Tide Mill Institute, describes dams and mill sites on Chauncey Creek in Kittery. One of these dams was built by Kittery’s most famous son, William Pepperrell (1696-1759). The dam remains are still visible in the creek to those who know what to look for. Local historian Bob Gray takes you to another mill site on upper Spruce Creek, while Kim Sanborn provides details about tide mills at Tucker’s Cove and Goose Creek. She also describes another mill mentioned in tax records but not yet discovered on the ground.

From there, you’ll learn about tide mill sites in New Castle, Portsmouth and Hampton, N.H., and then travel to Kennebunkport, Maine, with John Goff, one of the founders of the Tide Mill Institute. John will take you to Perkins tide mill and describe the grist milling process, which continued at the mill until 1934. The tour wraps up with Dave Kaselauskas, a well known Kittery Point historian. Dave will bring you with him to Brave Boat Harbor, which separates Kittery from York. Now a quiet, picturesque estuary, it was once a bustling port serving commerce in the area.

The Tide Mills of Kittery was produced by Deane Rykerson and Jim White, owner of Spruce Creek TV. Jim was also videographer, director and editor. Financial support for the production was provided by these generous businesses, organizations and individuals: Maine Humanities Council, Kittery Community Center, Tide Mill Institute, Maine 200, Kennebunk Savings, Anne and Vance Morgan, and Kittery Historical & Naval Museum.

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Watch The Tide Mills of Kittery: