Hanford Mills Museum


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Hanford Mills Museum operates an authentic water- and steam-powered historic site. The mission of Hanford Mills Museum is to inspire audiences of all ages to explore connections among energy, technology, natural resources, and entrepreneurship in rural communities, with a focus on sustainable choices. Its significance as one of the last nineteenth century mills to survive intact earned it a place on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

Admission includes guided tour of the Mill complex and its working 1926 Fitz Overshot Waterwheel and vintage woodworking machines.

  • The Mill building contains a sawmill, gristmill, and woodworking factory that grew in many stages between 1846 and 1902.
  • Over time, the Hanfords generated power using waterwheels, water turbines, a steam power plant, gas engines, and a dynamo that generated electric power. With the installation of a water turbine in Fall 2012, Hanford Mills Museum is able to demonstrate all of these methods for generating power.
  • The John Hanford Farmhouse shows how a local family would live, circa 1920. 
  • Hanford Mills Museum’s 14 other buildings include a Feed mill, Hardware Store, several barns, an Ice House, and a Blacksmith Shop. A boxcar is also featured on the site, showing the importance of the railroad in getting products to and from Hanford Mills.

 

Hanford Mills Museum in East Meredith, New York