You come upon this wonderful old sleeping reminder of the past as you turn into the quiet corners of Freedom Village on the way to Village Farm. It fairly speaks -- silently -- of the past. You can almost smell the fresh sawdust, touch the rough lumber or sift the grains through your hands, see the millstones turning… But it’s the SOUND of the force that powered all that, the water! that is here, not just an echo but alive, a dimension, ready to lend life again to The Mill and the Village of Freedom. Now, just as it has for who knows how many years, the water plunges down the dam from that quiet millpond and courses through to Sandy Stream, bringing the natural force of its strength beneath the mill structure. Its sound is pervasive. Hearing it brings alive the vision of restoring the vitality this stream once brought to daily life In Freedom. It is a life force for the creatures that live within the stream and pond: a beaver swims in the millpond, loons cry out from Sandy Pond (aka Freedom Pond) upstream, geese land on the intermediate “duck pond” as they return from their winter homes to the south, elvers – young eels -- find their way up to and around the dam as they migrate from the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean where they were spawned. But the stream is also a life force for the community of humans, who gathered there in the early 18th century to carve a life out of the wilderness, who relied on the river for their subsistence and their income, who abused the river because it seemed indestructible and who now appreciate it for its beauty and reviving wildlife.
The Mill expresses the promise of the past when it, like so much of the country that depended on river power, was part of the thriving community. It’s just waiting for the renewal of a familiar life. Hearing the constant sound of the water, you can listen for the voices of old-timers who today remember the place this mill held in the vitality of their eras as they recall their memories for the interviewers who are recording this renewal on film. The Mill is a stage, returning many of the props of those days to renewed use; it stirs the figurative wheels of imagination. Listen to the echoes and think of the restoration that has already taken the lead in bringing back that energy that held such a vital part in the development of this land.
It was the realization that this mill and power source could be restored without compromising the river environs that prompted our investigating the possibilities. Only later did we become so thoroughly enchanted by the history of the mill and its original construction that has withstood the ravages of time and intensive use and abuse. That it is still standing at all is a tribute to those who designed and built it without the benefit of power equipment. They built it to withstand the vibrations of three grinding wheels, and it has done that and more.
The Mill expresses the promise of the past when it, like so much of the country that depended on river power, was part of the thriving community. It’s just waiting for the renewal of a familiar life. Hearing the constant sound of the water, you can listen for the voices of old-timers who today remember the place this mill held in the vitality of their eras as they recall their memories for the interviewers who are recording this renewal on film. The Mill is a stage, returning many of the props of those days to renewed use; it stirs the figurative wheels of imagination. Listen to the echoes and think of the restoration that has already taken the lead in bringing back that energy that held such a vital part in the development of this land.
It was the realization that this mill and power source could be restored without compromising the river environs that prompted our investigating the possibilities. Only later did we become so thoroughly enchanted by the history of the mill and its original construction that has withstood the ravages of time and intensive use and abuse. That it is still standing at all is a tribute to those who designed and built it without the benefit of power equipment. They built it to withstand the vibrations of three grinding wheels, and it has done that and more.
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