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.

Continue reading “Sorting Out 60-Year-Old Tide Mill Research Notes” →

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” →

by Bud Warren

On October 25th and 26th tide mill enthusiasts were delighted with a well-rounded, two-day program about New England and European tide mills. The conference title was TIDE MILLS GALORE: From the Piscataqua to the Merrimack. Seventeen speakers shared findings of their research about early mills and current explorations to harness tidal energy. Participants enjoyed a low-tide field trip to view sites of seventeenth century mills and the chance to walk among the rocks of a tide mill dam in Kittery, Maine.

Friday was all about mills of the Piscataqua River region and gave time for informal presentations by local savants. Deb Knowlton set the stage by describing cultural and family aspects of milling in early New England. Deane Rykerson, Fred Perry and John Viele focused on Kittery’s Spruce Creek and Chauncey Creek mills. John led the group out on the ruins of the Thompson’s tide mill dam. New Hampshire’s Winnicutt River mill was explained by Nathan Hazen, and Craig Musselman shared the seven or eight mills in Rye, N.H.  Jim Cerny described New Castle Island’s two tide mills and led a look-and-see session at one site.

Continue reading “TMI’s Annual Conference Scores Again!” →

The Tide Mill Institute is proud to announce that one of its founders will receive the 2019 Prize for Collecting Works on Paper from Historic New England on Wednesday, November 20. The prize honors Earl Taylor for assembling “a significant collection of photographs, books, manuscripts, ephemera, and artifacts related to Dorchester, Massachusetts” according to Historic New England’s announcement. Taylor co-founded the Tide Mill Institute in 2005 along with Bud Warren and John Goff, and he currently serves on its board of directors.

Historic New England is the oldest and largest regional heritage organization in the U.S. At its annual Evening of Celebrations program at the Lyman Estate in Waltham, Mass., it recognizes historians, authors and collectors. This year, Taylor will share the Collecting Works on Paper award with Sam Allen and Lance Llewellyn.

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TIDE MILL INSTITUTE reports that it has received the bulk of the research papers of a noted tide mill historian. The late Peveril Meigs III began studying Atlantic Coast tide mills when he retired, but died after a decade or more of study and field work about tide mills. He wrote only a few articles about them. His extensive collection of data about this early American industrial technology has been unavailable for sixty years.

The institute reported this week that it has received the bulk of the Meigs papers – information about 300 tide mills from Nova Scotia to Florida – and will begin organizing them for eventual deposit in an academic museum archive. The papers were saved and carefully protected by his son, Willard Meigs of Lewisville, North Carolina, whose hope has been to have them preserved for scholars.

Continue reading “Organizing a Tide Mill Treasure” →