F-5-12
Stephen Osborn’s Sawmill
Signage Along the Trail – credit: Kathy Stickley Mullen – 2020
Probably constructed in 1815, the mill sits beside a 25’ water fall in Bailey Brook. Charles Bemis’ unpublished notes on the history of Nelson “manufactures” written in 1913 states that the mill produced tool handles including those for scythes, snathes, hoes and rakes. This kind of small turning work was common at Nelson mills with relatively small water flows producing modest power.
Nathaniel Davis, Stephen’s son-in-law, inherited the farm and the mill. It was a going concern until at least 1858 when the official map of Cheshire County shows a sawmill at that location. It seems the mill closed sometime during the Civil War.
Click for a more complete description of the Osborn and Davis family operations at this site
