E-2-5
The Bancroft Mill site today
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 had been sold to the Sheldon and Tolman Clothes and Rolling Pin Factory. The proprietors were Eben C. Tolman and an unidentified member of the Sheldon family. As the Bancroft mill is identified as a sawmill in early deeds, it seems likely that the new owners removed the original overshot waterwheel and installed a more modern turbine when they retooled the mil to make cylindrical wooden products. This mill burned in about 1875.
