Rural Mill

DateCirca 1870

Mediumwatercolor on paper

Dimensions9 1/2 × 15 3/4 in. (24.1 × 40 cm)

Object number00.47.5

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionA gray mill, made of stone and wood with a tall brick chimney is at the center of the painting. The body of water opens up to the left and a high grassy meadow spreads out in the background. Two trees rise from a stony landscape in the foreground, one arches to the right with barren branches. A stone wall runs horizontally across the middleground of the picture. The mill was a principal institutions of every New England village. There were dozens of mills in each town around New Bedford, MA, some used to transform corn and grain into flour and others as saw mills. Mills are simply buildings with machinery that specialize in grinding, crushing, or cutting solid materials into smaller pieces. These could be grist mills, saw mills, cotton mills, iron mills, paper mills and tanneries, shingle mills, and box-board mill paper mills, among many other types. It is unclear what kind of mill this is, or where exactly the subject was located -- if based on a real local site at all.

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