Our visit to E. Hutchinson's grist mill

Rita & I were in Maine just after Thanksgiving and with a bit of detective work found the probable site of Ebenezer Hutchinson's grist mill. Ebenezer was the great grandfather of Rhoda Walton. He and his son-in-law, Abraham Walton and other family/friends were in Oxford County, Maine in the late 1790's and until about 1812. Histories of Paris and Woodstock, Maine mention them and give some clues about their stay.

The Maine histories describe a grist mill operated by E. Hutchinson on the south outlet to Moose Pond near North Paris, Oxford County, Maine. The outlet actually is in the NW corner of the pond and goes west before turning to the south and west. I guess close enough. We visited with some locals and learned that folklore mentions multiple mills in the area but each person directed us to this location on a back road along the outlet. This first photo is of Moose Pond taken looking to the Southeast from Abbott Road just north of Route 219. North Paris is to the right (west) of Moose Pond.

This appears to be the remains of a stone dam on the stream. Is this the remains of a 1812 grist mill? Probably not, but maybe. We know that Ebenezer sold the mill and it may have operated for some time afterwards. This may have been something else, but after searching around the pond, this is my candidate for most probable location.

There is a cute little gift shop at the site. Realize that this is on a small road, little more than a driveway to a distant residence, off a back road. Not a place you'd expect to find a gift shop in any event.

The young lady in the gift shop could only repeat the folklore that we'd heard from others - there was a mill at the stream here sometime in the past. She was surprised when I suggested that the mill site I was looking for had been in operation before 1800.

On the way to Moose Pond we stopped at a couple of other sites. The Woodstock Historical Society was closed for the season. It is located in the NW part of Woodstock, near the community of Bryant Pond.

At South Woodstock, we thought we'd stumbled onto a real bit of luck when we came across a real mill. It turned out to be the mill at Andrew's Pond, likely restored or rebuilt from an earlier time. It may give us some idea as to what old Ebenezer's mill might have looked like. Suppose?

There is a funeral home across the road and only a few hundred yards away. We spent some time with the couple there who took a real interest in our quest. They gave us directions to Moose Pond and told a few stories of the area's history. They had recently purchased the business from a fellow who was the fifth generation of his family in the mortuary business there. The business sign gives an established date of 1837.