Thanks, Dale. You are right. Most of the mills in this area have been demolished. These two are in an artsy little suburban town and have been preserved to function as an art museum (The Old Stone Mill) or a History Museum (The Red Mill). The latter includes, in its yard, a restored blacksmith's shop and other displays showing how early "industry" functioned.
Dan Matyola *https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery <https://tinyurl.com/DJM-Pentax-Gallery>* On Sun, Apr 19, 2020 at 10:34 AM Dale H. Cook <[email protected]> wrote: > On 4/18/2020 8:32 PM, Daniel J. Matyola wrote: > > > The two here are in Clinton, NJ, just a few miles west of my home. > > Those are both beautiful photos. The vast majority of the mills that I > am photographing are not in good shape, because most have been > abandoned. Even the very few that are still in operation, such as > Vaughn's mill, are generally not attractive, partly because they have > been converted to diesel of electric power, their flumes gone and their > wheels abandoned and rotting or rusting. > > One great feature of your photos is that you had the mill ponds and > dams, and those water features are major parts of your compositions. As > I continue to photograph SW VA mills I will very rarely find that. Most > of the mill ponds and dams in this region are long gone. Many grist > mills in this area were fed fed by wooden flumes carrying water for some > distance. Still, I expect to find a few gems, but I don't expect to find > any as nice as those Clinton mills. Both images are very good work. > > I am sure that there were once many more mills in Clinton, but since > population density is much higher there than in most of the area where I > work unused mills there were probably generally torn down and the land > reused. In an area like mine that is mainly rural some mills were still > in operation anywhere from the '30s to the '60s. Since there was not a > great demand for the land on which they stand their hulks often remain. > Still, only a small percentage of the old mills remain standing. In an > urban area such as the Roanoke valley where I live only one old mill out > of dozens remains on its original site (and is still operating 'though > greatly changed). > -- > Dale H. Cook, Pentax K-70 w/ Pentax-DA 18-270mm walking- > around lens, Rokinon 650Z 650-1300mm telephoto lens > https://plymouthcolony.net/photos/index.html > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and > follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
