The Old Gardiner Mills now standing at Dresden, Lincoln Co, Maine From Notes of the late Charles E. Allen (Contributed by Hon. William D. Patterson, of Wiscasset) Vol 11 page 18-22 SPRAGUE'S JOURNAL OF MAINE HISTORY MILL Photo by Aaron Houdlette in 1860. On the back of this photo were the following notes: Built by Doctor Silvester Gardiner in the year 1753. Stood on the bank of Eastern River at the mouth of the mill stream & was run by water which came from the dam where the grist mill stood by means of a flume. Document No. 71,418 Supreme Court files, Boston. Aaron Willard and Simon Willard deposed that they were employed by Dr. Silvester Gardiner of Boston to build a garrison house and saw and grist mill on the eastern side of the Eastern river so called, in August, 1753. Eastern river extends itself through the plantation of Frankfort about N. N. E. is in length 8009 miles. The garrison house and mills are built about five miles from the mouth of Eastern river. Wood and timber are very thick and large. There were no settlements on either of said rivers except under Kennebec Co. since 1750, except Philip and Obadiah Call on the Kennebec river opposite the south end of a small island on the east side of Swan Island, who told us they were settled under the Kennebec Co. Document No. 73,398 Depositions Sept. 27, 1754, Miles Goodwin and David Joy deposed that they were employed by Major Samuel Goodwin and Mr. Thwing to assist in building Frankfort. There were about fifteen or twenty huts or dwelling houses erected by the Plymouth Company's orders, and one fort called Frankfort, with four cannon and one double saw-mill and grist-mill. The Company cut much timber there. THE GRIST MILL-Built by Dr. Gardiner in 1753. AN OLD SHED Part of the Residence of John Gardiner at Dresden, Maine, formerly a part of Ancient Pownalborough. *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by David C. Young and Courtesy of Androscoggin Historical (c) 1998 ***********************************************************************