Turning Mill Pond LbNA #42269
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Add Location| Owner: | Adoptable |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Jul 29, 2008 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Canterbury |
| County: | Merrimack |
| State: | New Hampshire |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Planted by: | CSV  |
|---|---|
| Found by: | 3 Purple Mushrooms |
| Last found: | Apr 13, 2010 |
| Status: | FFFFF |
| Last edited: | Jul 29, 2008 |
Canterbury Shaker Village
Turning Mill Pond Letterbox Trail
Take Exit 18 of I-93 or Rt. 106 to Shaker Road (at the Beanstalk Store in Loudon) and follow the signs to Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH. Just before you come up the hill to the Village, take a right on Asby Road and park in the clearing about 2/10 of a mile ahead on the left. Please do not park in front of the gate across the access road. The trail is kept fairly clear, but sturdy shoes are recommended. Round trip is about a 1 mile walk.
(This letterbox is also accessible by parking in the Village’s main parking lot and walking through the Village and down to the pond. Please note, however, if you approach it that way anytime between May and October, 10:00-5:00pm you will have to pay the museum admission fee. Thanks).
To access the letterbox trail, duck under the gate across the access road – you will first pass the foundation of the Shakers’ large sawmill and then Sawmill Pond on your right. Continue on to the next pond, the larger Turning Mill Pond. As you walk think about what might have been made in a “Turning Mill!” The pond was created by the Shakers around 1800 – just one in a series of ponds they dug to power their growing mill industry. The water for these ponds was channeled through a hand-dug ditch from two natural ponds two miles to the north.
Walk straight past the modern pump house along the western edge of the pond toward the 1905 stone Pump Mill. You will see the Village up the hill to your left. At the Pump Mill turn right and follow the trail along the northern edge of the pond, noting the old mill foundations including a wood mill from 1915 and a grain threshing and ice storage mill from 1876. The water-wheel pit, which provided power for the mills, is still visible.
As you pass the foundations and head up a little hill, you’ll see Factory Pond to the North. Following the path on your right, take an optional walk out onto Boys’ Island (actually a peninsula) that was built in 1867 for the orphaned boys taken in by the Shakers to plant little gardens and fruit trees on.
Just after the path out to Boys’ Island, start looking for where the trail goes into the woods to the right – there will be a bittersweet-covered granite gatepost. Follow the trail around the north side of Turning Mill Pond and enjoy the view of the Village across the water. You’ll see evidence of some of the Village’s non-human residents – beavers!
The trail turns to the south onto Ingall’s Dam, built in 1913 to raise the level of the pond and provide more power to the mill. After you cross the spillway (channeled excess water out of the pond), you’ll head back into the woods. When you emerge into the field on the other side, make a 90 degree right-hand turn. The end is near – we hope you enjoyed the walk around our beautiful pond! Look for the letterbox in the stone wall near an ancient dying sugar maple tree.
Continue on the trail around the pond – just before you get back to the modern pump house and access road, you’ll see that you are standing on a dam with a large pile of rubble to the south (left). This is the remains of the Turning Mill for which the pond is named – have you guessed what was made there yet? It was here that the Shakers’ made wooden buckets, broom handles and furniture legs – anything made of wood that needed to be “turned” on a lathe to be shaped.
Additonal Information:
Canterbury Shaker Village was founded in 1792. At its peak in the 1850’s, over 300 people lived worked and worshipped in 100 buildings on 4,000 acres. Practicing equality of the sexes and races, common ownership of goods, celibacy and pacifism they devoted their “hands to work and hearts to God” while striving to make their communities an earthly heaven.
Today Canterbury Shaker Village is an internationally-known, non-profit museum National Historic Landmark with 25 original Shaker buildings, four reconstructed buildings and 694 acres of forests, fields, gardens and mill ponds under permanent conservation easement. The Village is open seven days a week from 10:00-5:00 from May-October and Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays in November. Stop in at the Admissions desk in the Visitor Education Center to learn about admission fees, daily tours, exhibits, craft demonstrations & kids’ activities. Visit the Village’s website at www.shakers.org
Turning Mill Pond Letterbox Trail
Take Exit 18 of I-93 or Rt. 106 to Shaker Road (at the Beanstalk Store in Loudon) and follow the signs to Canterbury Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH. Just before you come up the hill to the Village, take a right on Asby Road and park in the clearing about 2/10 of a mile ahead on the left. Please do not park in front of the gate across the access road. The trail is kept fairly clear, but sturdy shoes are recommended. Round trip is about a 1 mile walk.
(This letterbox is also accessible by parking in the Village’s main parking lot and walking through the Village and down to the pond. Please note, however, if you approach it that way anytime between May and October, 10:00-5:00pm you will have to pay the museum admission fee. Thanks).
To access the letterbox trail, duck under the gate across the access road – you will first pass the foundation of the Shakers’ large sawmill and then Sawmill Pond on your right. Continue on to the next pond, the larger Turning Mill Pond. As you walk think about what might have been made in a “Turning Mill!” The pond was created by the Shakers around 1800 – just one in a series of ponds they dug to power their growing mill industry. The water for these ponds was channeled through a hand-dug ditch from two natural ponds two miles to the north.
Walk straight past the modern pump house along the western edge of the pond toward the 1905 stone Pump Mill. You will see the Village up the hill to your left. At the Pump Mill turn right and follow the trail along the northern edge of the pond, noting the old mill foundations including a wood mill from 1915 and a grain threshing and ice storage mill from 1876. The water-wheel pit, which provided power for the mills, is still visible.
As you pass the foundations and head up a little hill, you’ll see Factory Pond to the North. Following the path on your right, take an optional walk out onto Boys’ Island (actually a peninsula) that was built in 1867 for the orphaned boys taken in by the Shakers to plant little gardens and fruit trees on.
Just after the path out to Boys’ Island, start looking for where the trail goes into the woods to the right – there will be a bittersweet-covered granite gatepost. Follow the trail around the north side of Turning Mill Pond and enjoy the view of the Village across the water. You’ll see evidence of some of the Village’s non-human residents – beavers!
The trail turns to the south onto Ingall’s Dam, built in 1913 to raise the level of the pond and provide more power to the mill. After you cross the spillway (channeled excess water out of the pond), you’ll head back into the woods. When you emerge into the field on the other side, make a 90 degree right-hand turn. The end is near – we hope you enjoyed the walk around our beautiful pond! Look for the letterbox in the stone wall near an ancient dying sugar maple tree.
Continue on the trail around the pond – just before you get back to the modern pump house and access road, you’ll see that you are standing on a dam with a large pile of rubble to the south (left). This is the remains of the Turning Mill for which the pond is named – have you guessed what was made there yet? It was here that the Shakers’ made wooden buckets, broom handles and furniture legs – anything made of wood that needed to be “turned” on a lathe to be shaped.
Additonal Information:
Canterbury Shaker Village was founded in 1792. At its peak in the 1850’s, over 300 people lived worked and worshipped in 100 buildings on 4,000 acres. Practicing equality of the sexes and races, common ownership of goods, celibacy and pacifism they devoted their “hands to work and hearts to God” while striving to make their communities an earthly heaven.
Today Canterbury Shaker Village is an internationally-known, non-profit museum National Historic Landmark with 25 original Shaker buildings, four reconstructed buildings and 694 acres of forests, fields, gardens and mill ponds under permanent conservation easement. The Village is open seven days a week from 10:00-5:00 from May-October and Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays in November. Stop in at the Admissions desk in the Visitor Education Center to learn about admission fees, daily tours, exhibits, craft demonstrations & kids’ activities. Visit the Village’s website at www.shakers.org