Articles about Nelson’s Industrial History
The Village Blacksmith
D-3-17 Part of the new village of Nelson Center laid out in 1839 was a blacksmith shop at the junction of the road to Harrisville and the road to Hancock. With its coal fired hearth, it was probably located at the edge of the village on purpose.
Mill Headquarters
B-5-6 Mill Headquarters: This structure was built in 1855 likely as the mill office and crew quarters for the steam powered sawmill 100 yards to its east at B-5-7.
Otter Brook Steam Mill
B-5-7. Three foundations in the far northwestern corner of Nelson are the remains of a steam powered sawmill that operated between 1855 and 1860. The complex is composed of the mill site itself and two supporting buildings that have in-ground foundations.
Harrington’s Bark Mill
C-4-9 Stephen Harrington established his tannery in about 1803. He probably built this water powered bark mill at about the same time. The bark mill consisted of a dam and a mill where oak and hemlock bark were ground to produce tannin rich “powder” for use in the tanning process.
Harrington’s Tannery
C-4-8 - Stephen Harrington established his tannery in about 1803. The tannery is located just east of Henderson Road on a small brook that served as both its water supply and its waste removal system. Water from the brook was collected above the road and carried by aqueduct across the road to the tannery below.
Mill Boarding House
Asa Beard was a founder of the Nelson Cotton and Woolen Company in about 1815. While living at D-3-3, he built this house as his new residence and began building a factory at the outlet of Fish Pond (Granite Lake).
Daniel Wood’s Corn Mill
C-1-3: The outlet of Pleasant Pond (later Beed Pond and Silver Lake) was the site of three mills. The town’s first gristmill was established here in about 1771 by Daniel Wood of Upton, Massachusetts.
Bryant Tannery
Established by Francis S. Bryant shortly after their father, Amos, bought the property from the widow of Stephen Beard in 1805. Little remains of the vats and other hallmarks of a tannery today.
The Parmenter Mill
E-2-6 In 1856 Joel Bancroft sold 85 acres here to Appleton Parmenter. The site included a good mill site just downstream from the Bancroft sawmill. Parmenter built a saw and grist mill here. In 1864 he sold the [...]
The Bancroft Mill
E-2-5 As early as 1830 Joel Bancroft built a sawmill at the outlet of the Great Meadow. The elaborate foundation including a dry-stone arch and mill raceways can still be seen today. In the late 1850’s the mill [...]
Fulling Mill
D-4-13 Fulling Mill: Little remains at this site today but as flattened area north of the brook. Here in 1794, Thomas K. Breed built a fulling mill* with a shear. Fulling mils were used to treat woolen cloth [...]
Thomas Knowles Breed, Fuller:
D-4-3: Thomas was the 3rd son of Nathaniel and Ann Breed born in Sudbury, Massachusetts in 1761. He came to Monadnock #6 with his parents in 1768. After leaving home, he established himself at D-3-11 where he may [...]