D-4-9
The Osgood graphite veins were discovered in 1848 and property owner Horatio Osgood leased them to Moses Carleton of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Two years later, Carlleton sublet them to J. and J. Seabury, a New York mining company; Jacob Seabury also bought the Town Farm Mine in 1858. The Osgood, or J. Seabury Lead Mine, operated through the Civil War, closing in about 1865. It reportedly produced 30 tons of graphite in one unspecified three-month period, a heroic rate of production for those days. The mine probably employed 20 to 25 men, whose toil in hammer-and-steel drilling, gunpowder blasting, and hauling must have been formidable. Nehemiah Flint died when hit by a falling rock here in 1850 (read the story). Big blocks of waste rocks on the dumps still show odd triangular-shaped drill holes, presumably the result of steam-powered drill bit chatter. Adapted from a 1995 Grapevine II article by John Gilbert

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Daniel Wood’s Corn Mill
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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 woven on home looms to finish it. He bought land on either side of the brook [...]
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C-4-15. Stephen Harrington purchased part of the Burnap Farm from John Burnap in 1802. He clearly intended to develop business enterprises there as the purchase included lots that contain the foundation of the tannery, a shoe shop, and the site of a bark mill in the southeast corner of Nelson Road and Henderson Road today.
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
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Josiah Woodward
B-2-5 Josiah Woodward Josiah Woodward bought land and water rights here in 1804 and moved here from Marlborough with his wife, Keziah, building a large two-story frame house. His wife died in 1810 and he remarried Sally Wakefield of Dublin. Josiah deeded half the home, mill and 110 acres to his son, Josiah M. [...]
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Nelson Cotton and Woolen Company
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Otter Brook Steam Mill
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The Bancroft Mill
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 [...]
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The Graphite Mines of Nelson
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The Newell Mine
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The Osgood Mine
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The Story of Nehemiah Flint
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The Tolman Mill
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The Town Farm Mine
C-3-17 This graphite deposit was discovered in 1853 on what was then the 156-acre Nelson Town Farm, and the selectmen were quickly authorized to sell the mining rights. The S. C. Griffin Company had a lease on the graphite veins as early as 1855; Parke Struthers (1968) reported that the Griffin company showed “some [...]
The Wilson Mill:
D-4-22 The Wilson Mill: Situated at the outlet of White Pond today is a very large stone dam, a ruined concrete gate and spillway and numerous stone piers that held the structures of the mills here from 1796 to the end of the 19th century.
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 have operated a small tavern and inn. He lived here while he operated the fulling mill [...]