Old Water-Powered Tide Mills in Harpswell

Join Harpswell Heritage Land Trust on Wednesday, July 30 at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center on Orrs Island for a fascinating look at many of the places where historic tide mills once worked in Harpswell. The talk will be presented by historian, architect and Harpswell summer resident John Goff. His recent research has uncovered new information-regarding five of Harpswell’s best-known old tide mill sites,  and he will also discuss the great Basin Cove Tide Mill, credited with once being Maine’s largest working Tidal Grist Mill.

Prior to our modern era which utilizes electric energy, and before the development of steam engines, Mainers looked to wind-power, to water-power, and to animal power to perform heavy labor.  During the 18th and 19th centuries, Harpswell citizens built and operated a surprisingly high number of coastal tide mills to grind grain, cut lumber, and produce wooden shingles during our country’s Great Age of Sail.

Water powered tide mills situated upon Harpswell’s many tidal coves provided cheap and reliable power for sawing lumber and grinding grain in our town’s earliest years.  Tide mills were labor-saving industrial and manufacturing structures that also produced trade goods and mercantile wares directly upon Harpswell’s waterfronts–a boost and supportive resource for the maritime trades.

This event is a part of the SCSC Summer Speaker Series.

• July 9th – Monique Coombs, Director of Community Programs, Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association | ‘What Do You See When You Admire The Working Waterfront?’
• July 16th – Dr. Jon Allen, Associate Professor Biology at William & Mary | ‘Harpswell’s Spineless Wonders: Marine Invertebrates and the Future of Biological Exploration’
• July 23rd – Michèle LaVigne, Associate Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science | ‘Investigating Ocean Acidification at a Maine Oyster Reef Restoration Site through Undergraduate Research’
• July 30th – John V. Goff,  Historian and Architect | ‘Old Water-Powered Tide Mills in Harpswell, Maine: A Reconsideration’
• August 6th – Attorney Benjamin Ford | ‘Water Rush- The Fight to Save Maine’s Most Valuable Resource’ 
• August 13th – Jessie Batchelder of Manomet Conservation Sciences | ‘A Crabby Coast: Monitoring Blue Crab Range Expansion in the Gulf of Maine’
• August 20th – Lucy Dutton, 2025 Bowdoin graduate | ‘Eel Grass Restoration in Casco Bay’