FEDERAL HILL
035-020-008
Hayden Mill
Also see 035-020

Hayden Mill site can be seen from the Mill Road.  The sluiceway is to the east of the pond. The surrounding area is private property.  The mill owner for a time lived at 70 Hayden Road and accessed the mill from a trail down hill.

From Where the Past Has Been Preserved p 225, 1980

“Daniel Bailey bought an old mill on Bailey Brook in 1759 but had rouble obtaining sufficient water.  In 1790 he decided to join Josiah Hayden in building a new sawmill near the headwaters of Witches Brook and this proved to be a successful venture.  Part of the lumber for the third meetinghouse was sawed there.  For various reasons Mr. Bailey moved on and built another mill.

            In 1865 David and Daniel Hayden decided to improve the sawmill. The amount of labor involved was impressive.  According to Witches Brook Industries by Bertha Hayden:

After the removal of the Bailey-Hayden dam a trench thirty feet wide and seven feet deep was dug across the valley, and a line of sheet piling consisting of two thicknesses of two inch plank was placed in position.  A split stone dam twenty-one feet high, thirty feet wide and 210 feet long was built. The road across this dam was a private way, but was much used by the traveling public.  The yard between the hills on the west, more than half an acre was filled to a depth varying from six to sixteen feet.  This filling required the moving of many thousands of yards of gravel.  The preliminary work having been accomplished the mill was built in 1867 by Frank McDonald and his competent workmen. 

It is interesting to note that in removing the old dam they found hemlock boughs placed there seventy-five years before, as perfect as when first covered.

            The second Hayden Brothers’ mill was located at the corner of Ames and Witches Spring Road.  This mill was originally established by Mr. Kendall in 1800.  There was a succession of twelve owners, the last being the Hayden Brothers.  …

            The Hayden Brothers’ sawmill was the last mill to use water power as its only source of energy. During 1845-46 Gaylord Price used it to produce boards for his new home.  The boards were then taken to the gristmill wee they wee planed.  The gristmill has been torn down, but part of the sawmill, presently owned by Joseph Sakey, has been repaired and is still standing."