New England mills Archives

Thursday Throwback – 21

We visit to an old mill in Hardwick, Massachusetts, filled with intriguing textures of the structure and its interaction with nature.

Even though the image for this week was captured only six years ago, it doesn’t have a true sense of throwback. I enjoy exploring the sites of the old New England mill buildings, as they are filled with interesting textures and have great interaction with nature. As these buildings are not always maintained regularly, vegetation finds its way!

Here’s one such locale…

This mill in Hardwick, Massachusetts, appears rather abandoned, and nature is knocking at the door. It might even be that it has entered in other parts of the building, as the roof structure is not full intact. The weathering of wood and brick provides a wonderful contrast with the gentle grasses and vines.

Smoke and the Water

After the rains I spent this Sunday exploring the effects by visiting local waterfalls and Turner’s Falls.

A late post, as I spent some time on this lovely Sunday to go follow the water! As there had been a tremendous amount of rain over the past week and a half, I thought it might be worthwhile to see the effect. This included a trip to one of my favorite local waterfalls (pictures later), and to Turner’s Falls. The Connecticut river flows through Turner’s Falls and to say it was a spectacle is an understatement.

Here’s an image from today…

Sitting alongside the power canal in Turner’s Falls, it appears that this building was used for some type of storage. I’m not sure what used to be stored in it, but given its proximity to the mill buildings, I expect it may have been fuel. If that’s the case, it would have been for the latter part of the history of the mills along the canal, as water was the main power source originally.

On this day it was a nice scene to capture, especially as the power canal was fully maxed out in terms of water flow.

Wednesday Window – pt 19

This week features Linwood Mills, a revitalized site transformed into affordable senior housing,

After last week’s frosty view of a window in an old New England mill, I’m bringing back another mill for this week. This photo goes back to 2009 and at that time it was m ore than a bit dilapidated. While that may lend charm to an image, there is a positive twist coming up.

Here’s a view of these substantial mills…

Since the time of this photo, these mills have been revitalized into affordable contemporary senior housing. The details on this project can be found on this web-site. It’s great to see this kind of adaptive re-use, as it retains the character of the towns and provides a means of ‘recycling’ great structures.

I definitely love seeing more of these comeback stories!

This is my mid-week contribution to the Monday Window thread, a creation of Ludwig Keck. To read more about Ludwig, check this page.

Wednesday Window – pt 18

The recent snowfall inspired reflections on nature’s resilience, highlighting a past photograph of a mill in Northbridge, Massachusetts, overtaken by vegetation.

My inspiration for this week is the snowfall that we had over the past weekend. Even though it was just a couple of inches, it made for a tricky driveway clean up, as it was wet and heavy snow. In my search for some more snow-inspired images, I went back to a number of New England mills that I photographed over the years.

In 2009, I came across this during a February day…

This detail from one the buildings in Northbridge, Massachusetts, just caught my eye with its takeover by Nature in multiple ways. Vegetation knows how to take over any area that is not tended by us, humans. It leads the unstoppable advance that will take place no matter what.

Let’s embrace Nature and nurture her, as she inevitably embraces us.

This is my mid-week contribution to the Monday Window thread, a creation of Ludwig Keck. To read more about Ludwig, check this page.