Whittingham Steam Grist Mill
Sussex Co. | New Jersey | USA
Watersource: Steam powered
Whittingham Steam Grist Mill
Southwest from Newton on Sh 94/High St., angle left onto West End Ave./Ch 519/Ridge Rd. Go about four miles, and turn left on Willows Road. Go about 3/4 miles to mill on the right at a slight left hand curve just prior to the junction with Fredon-Springdale Road and Springdale Road. The mill is about 70 yards off the road in the woods in a gully.
The mill is constructed of cut stone, three stories plus basement, rather tall for its width, nestled below the hillside in New Jersey's section of the Appalachian Mountains.
The surrounding area has all grown-up with regrowth hardwood timber. A rather pretty stream meanders above the mill through the woods, but was mostly dry, in July, therefore the necessity for steam power.
The remains of the engine room with its attached smokestack, almost reminisant of small furnace. The steam pipes supplying the mill go underground to the mill, only about 20-25 feet distant from the boiler or engine, whichever was used.
The Chimney of the engine/steam building of which the front wall with doorway and the massive chimney and some of the attached, right-rear, sidewall remain.
The upper story entrance on the north end of the mill, the part embanked into the hillside. The mill was offered for sale in 1993 as a restorable mill. It is still restorable in 2007, with a good roof & solid construction. The open windows and doors are exposing the interior to the elements, however.
An interesting and beautiful wildflower on the grassed-over driveway to the upper level and steam building of the mill.
An interior picture through the open doorway of the second door above ground level. The building is signed "no trespassing" so could not enter. The interior walls appear not to be cut stne, but more likely rubble stone of a sandstone nature.
The mill is right on the northernmost tip, outside the boundary, of the Wittingham Wildlife Management Area, with the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife headquarters and offices just around the corner on Springdale Road. The folks at the headquarters didn't know who owned the building, but didn't think anyone would mind it being photographed and placed on the mill website.