This Water Power Grain Mill in NY has been operating since 1788

Tuthilltown Gristmill, Gardiner New York

Date added: February 29, 2024 Categories:

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From the time it was first established on the Shawangunk Kill by Selah Tuthill in 1788, the Tuthilltown Grist Mill has remained in continuous operation as a water-powered local industry. Originally driven by an undershot water wheel, the mill was subsequently powered by an overshot wheel and later, by the present vertical-shaft turbine drive system. In its dam, headrace, and successive conversions to ever more efficient hydropower systems, the Tuthilltown Grist Mill reflects the typical engineering history of a rural New York grain mill during the nineteenth century. Its present drive, cleaning, grinding, bolting, and bagging machinery continue to reflect the state of the art in vernacular milling technology during the period 1880-1910.

The Tuthilltown Grist Mill is the oldest operating grist mill in Ulster County and one of only a few such mills in New York State to have remained as local industries since the eighteenth century. Corn, rye, and wheat are custom ground from October to May, and kosher flour milled under strict rabbinical supervision is a specialty product which constitutes a major component of the current milling business.

Site Description

The Tuthilltown Grist Mill is a water-powered grain mill located on the northwest bank of the Shawangunk Kill in the town of Gardiner, approximately one-half mile west of the stream's confluence with the Wallkill. The property includes the mill building, and the hydropower system which carries water to and from the mill over a total distance of approximately 2,500 feet.

Situated in a wooded rural setting, the grist is a three-story timber frame structure built upon a fieldstone foundation. Rectangular in plan, the mill is covered by a gable roof with a clerestory monitor. The exterior sheathing of clapboard has been covered by asbestos shingles applied in the 1940's.

Though the original mill was built in 1788, this structure has been expanded as a result of several alterations which enlarged the mill to its present dimensions. The present mill consists of a rectangular main block with a shed-roofed, one-story addition extending from the south side. The addition, which contains the present mill store, was built in 1943 on the site formerly occupied by the mill office and attached wagon shed. The main building retains most structural members, floors, stairs, doors, and windows from all periods of its construction, with only selective replacement of worn or deteriorated elements.

The second story of the mill originally projected beyond the first at the west end of the building, creating a covered drive from which wagons were loaded and unloaded. This area was enclosed for use as a garage in 1978.

In its appearance and its equipment, the Tuthilltown Grist Mill is typical of a late nineteenth century merchant mill: The mill was originally powered by an undershot water wheel. This system was subsequently altered for an overshot wheel and the head increased. Since 1900, the primary power source has been a horizontal Leffel water turbine installed in the former wheel pit at the southeast corner of the building. The present headrace consists of a concrete-lined trough which delivers water to the turbine pit.

During the mill's peak operating years, the existing turbine powered four run of millstones, all located on the first floor. The Tuthilltown mill retains its full, operable complement of stones and ancillary equipment, including cranes, bagging chutes, fanning and bolting machines, and endless conveyors, though only a single run of stones is currently used in the commercial grinding process. Nearly all components of the power-system and the extant processing machinery were installed in the mill during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.