News
Read news stories about Chase’s Mill and watch videos of past lectures and presentations.
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MonadTalks with Luca Paris
In May, Bob Brown spoke with Luca Paris, CEO of Greater Monadnock Collaborative, on his MonadTalk podcast. You’ll be amazed at how much history – Chase's Mill, Mill Hollow, New Hampshire, New England, the arc of human progress – Bob can cover in under 25 minutes.
MHHA Wins Preservation award
The N.H. Preservation Alliance is pleased to announce our 2022 Preservation Achievement Award winner, the Mill Hollow Heritage Association, for the revitalization and rehabilitation of Chase’s Mill in Alstead.
Century-Old N.H. Mill Returns to Life
Helen Frink is an author, historian, and Mill Hollow Heritage Association board member. Her article about Chase’s Mill, “Century-Old N.H. Mill Returns to Life” is included in the Spring 2020 Society for Industrial Archeology newsletter.
MHHA receives $87,000 in grants
“ALSTEAD - A group turning a historical mill into an interactive museum has been awarded two grants totaling more than $87,000. The nonprofit Mill Hollow Heritage Association said in a news release Monday that it will receive $78,622 from the federal Northern Border Regional Commission - as part of an economic development program administered by the N.H. Preservation Alliance - and $8,600 from the Putnam Foundation.” Read more…
MHHA Awarded Economic Development Grant
Efforts to revitalize three historic buildings and their communities in Colebrook, Alstead and Lancaster, New Hampshire will get boost thanks to grants awarded this month by the N.H. Preservation Alliance. “While our families’ and communities’ health is of paramount importance right now,” said Jennifer Goodman, executive director of the N.H. Preservation Alliance, “we’re pleased to offer this good news of investment in our workforce and in anchors of our communities that will have wonderful short and long-term benefits.” The grant funds are made possible by an award to the N.H. Preservation Alliance along with the Preservation Trust of Vermont, Maine Preservation and the Preservation League of New York State from the Northern Border Regional Commission (NBRC). Read more…
Preserving an Old-time Makerspace in Alstead
ALSTEAD - Speeding around a corner of Camp Brook Road in Alstead, passing motorists fly over a bridge they may not even notice, past an old building sporting a newly painted sign. But below that bridge runs a swift and noisy stream, once the lifeblood of a community. This place was called Mill Hollow because it boasted five mills at one time, all clustered along the ravine where Warren Brook tumbles downhill, and this old building is the last mill standing. Read more…
MHHA Receives $150,000 Matching Grant
ALSTEAD - Dec. 14, 2018 -- New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) has awarded the Mill Hollow Heritage Association (MHHA) a $150,000 matching grant to support its rehabilitation of Chase’s Mill, according to Sharon Spaulding, President of MHHA.
Savings Bank of Walpole Awards Grant
ALSTEAD, NH - Aug. 17, 2018 - Mark Bodin, President, Savings Bank of Walpole, today announced the Bank has awarded a $2,500 grant to be used towards the renovation of the waterworks at Chase's Mill. According to Mr. Bodin, "Savings Bank of Walpole is happy to support Chase's Mill renovations. Bringing this building back to life will not only preserve the historical heritage of the structure but will also help provide an educational component for the community to share with the next generation."
For the love of Chase's Mill
By William Holt Sentinel Staff
April 21, 2018
ALSTEAD - Perched on the edge on Warren Brook, near the junction of Route 123 and Pine Cliff Road, Chase’s Mill is one of only nine water-powered woodworking mills left in New Hampshire. Parts of its stone foundation date back more than 250 years, making it older than the country it occupies. In July 2016, Chase’s Mill was named to the N.H. State Register of Historic Places. But unlike many other sites on that list, it won’t stay dormant for long.
Chase's Mill Receives $35,000 in Grants
Vermont Journal
Alstead, NH - July 20, 2017
The Mill Hollow Heritage Association (MHHA) announced it has received a $25,000 grant from the New York City based Bay and Paul Foundation and a $10,000 grant from the Samuel P. Hunt Foundation of Manchester, NH, towards the rehabilitation of the historic Chase's Mill, according to Sharon Spaulding, president of MHHA.
Chase's Mill Receives $100,000 Grant
The New Hampshire Land Heritage and Community Investment Program (LCHIP) earlier this month announced it has awarded a $100,000 matching grant to Alstead's Mill Hollow Heritage Association (MHHA), according to Sharon Spaulding, president of MHHA. In celebrating the award in Concord on Dec. 8th, Gov. Maggie Hassan observed, "The Land and Community Heritage Investment Program is critical to protecting our natural, historical and cultural resources, and I am proud that we restored funding for LCHIP in 2013 and maintained that commitment in our current bipartisan budget.
Chase’s Mill Acquired by MHHA
Vermont Journal
Alstead, NH - Oct. 28, 2016 - East Alstead’s Chase’s Mill has been purchased by the non-profit Mill Hollow Heritage Association (MHHA) from its former owners, Mowlot Kazati and Kate Tarlow Morgan, according to Sharon Spaulding, president of MHHA. “MHHA was founded in 2012 to purchase and renovate the Mill and then open it to the community as both a seasonal museum and as a makerspace / workshop,” said Ms. Spaulding.
Alstead property added to state register
ALSTEAD - Chase’s Mill in town has been added to the N.H. State Register of Historic Places.
N.H. Preservation Alliance Grant Awarded
We are pleased to announce the receipt of a $1,250 grant from the Rick and Duffy Monahon Fund of the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, for the specific purpose of providing a building assessment with preservation guidelines for the mill. From the Preservation Alliance: "The Mill Hollow Heritage Association has good forward momentum but needs the boost of a professional assessment grant to help them prepare for a campaign that will complete important preservation repairs and allow the public to use this building.”
Owners hope to preserve historic Alstead building
By Marilou Blaine Alstead Historical Society
January 17, 2012
ALSTEAD - The peak of water-powered mills, both in Alstead and the state, was between 1810 and 1820. New Hampshire’s population of 244,161 was served by 697 gristmills, 964 sawmills, 262 fulling mills and 251 carding machines.
Chase’s Mill Named to ‘Seven to Save List’
By NICOLE S. COLSON
Record Staff
November 12, 2009
ALSTEAD - The Chase Mill was the first. And it is now the last — the last mill standing in town — which is why the couple who own the building are working to preserve it as a centerpiece of New Hampshire history.
Videos
Watch past presentations to learn more about Chase’s Mill and other local historical sites and topics.
The videos in the series “A Sense of Place” were made possible by a grant from New Hampshire Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Breaking Bread: Noah Elbers & Orchard Hill Breadworks
Our “A Sense of Place” series explored the stories, history, and qualities that make Chase's Mill and Mill Hollow unique with a tour of Alstead's Orchard Hill Breadworks and an interview with its founder, Noah Elbers, followed by a Q & A. Noah’s presentation featured the bakery’s new stone mill and highlighted the growing nationwide movement of artisan bakers who’ve chosen to work directly with the farmers who grow their grain.
Stories from the Holler: Suffragist, Reproductive Rights Activist, Artist, Writer - Mary Ware Dennett
In this “A Sense of Place” event, historian Dr. Helen Frink interviewed Sharon Spaulding about the remarkable Mary Ware Dennett, a woman ahead of her time. During her life, Dennett (1872—1947) was a leader in the Arts and Crafts movement, second-in-command of the National Suffrage organization in New York, founder of the first national birth control league in the U.S., and a champion of free speech and sex education.
An Evening of Poetry and Music from "The Holler"
This “A Sense of Place” event featured Alstead artists Ellen Chase and Randy Miller. The evening alternated between Ellen reading her poems from her latest collection, A Cow Named Joy (as well as a few poems by her mother, Edith Chase, written in and about Mill Hollow), and Randy playing old fiddle tunes that relate to milling. Randy also performed one of his own compositions, “Mill Hollow Reel.”
Ellen Chase grew up in Alstead, then lived in various other parts of the country for 50 years before returning in 2007. She has a BFA in illustration from the Mass College of Art and an MFA from Syracuse University, and has had several solo shows of her paintings. Her occupations have included potter, carpenter, scientific illustrator, software designer, and most recently, teacher of poetry courses through the CALL program at Keene State College. She considers her study of illustration to be a good foundation for poetry writing, as both arts depend on sensory information, metaphor, and imagery to create an emotional effect.
Randy Miller comes from a musical family—he and his three siblings all took music lessons while growing up. He has played fiddle and piano at contra dances and Irish sessions nationwide for more than 40 years and has recorded six albums of traditional New England and Irish fiddle music. Randy co-hosts several regular Irish music sessions in Hanover, Newport, and Peterborough, and is the dance fiddler for The Inn at East Hill Farm. Randy moved to Mill Hollow in the spring of 1973, renting “The Corn Crib” from Mary Burroughs. In 1975 he was commissioned by author Heman Chase to make several wood engravings for Heman's book, More Than Land.
Water Works
This “A Sense of Place” event was hosted by Bob Brown and Helen Frink. Bob, who took many shop classes at the Mill, offered a virtual tour of its water power. Helen, an author and historian, discussed the history of mills and their importance in the development of manufacturing in New England.
Robert Brown hold an AB from Dartmouth College in Earth Sciences and an MA from Antioch New England University in Education. Bob has worked for Thompson & Lichtner Co. as Staff Geologist and for the Research Corp of the University of Hawaii in marine geophysical research prior to settling on a career as a public school science educator and later Director of Curriculum and Instruction for the Fall Mountain Regional School District. A former member of the Alstead Conservation Commission, he has a long history of personal connection to Chase’s Mill over the last 60 years.
Helen Frink holds a BA in English from the University of New Hampshire and master’s and doctoral degrees in German from the University of Chicago. She retired from Keene State College as Professor Emerita of Modern Languages in 2009. She is the author of These Acworth Hills, Alstead Through the Years, Women after Communism: the East German Experience, and Oil, Ice and Bone: Arctic Whaler Nathaniel Ransom. She is descended from two families of Yankee whalers and lives too far from the sea in Acworth, New Hampshire.
Stories from the Mill: Shop Classes with Edith & Heman Chase
At this “A Sense of Place” event, we continued to explore the stories, history, and qualities that make Chase's Mill and Mill Hollow unique. A few people who took part in those legendary Shop Classes taught by Edith and Heman Chase reminisced about their experiences and shared what they learned not only about woodworking, but also about life. With the Chases’ grandson, Jonathan Botkin, serving as our moderator, we also explored why we believe it's important to create similar opportunities and connections for current and future generations.
Jonathan Botkin is a mechanical engineer who has worked on renewable energy for the past 30 years. In his youth, he spent much time in the mill with Heman, learning about water power, woodworking, and even a little bit about land surveying. Jonathan lives in California with his wife and son and their three dogs.
Winter Then and Now
This “A Sense of Place”event explored the stories, history, and qualities that make Chase's Mill and Mill Hollow unique with "Winter Then and Now," hosted by author, historian, and Board Co-Chair Helen Frink. Helen shared a marvelous slideshow of Mill Hollow photos taken in winter over the years, and she moderated a panel discussion about how people worked and played. Friends of Chase’s Mill also shared memories of winter work and winter fun from years back.
Chase’s Mill: A Brief History and Plan for its Future
Near the middle of the town of Alstead, New Hampshire, nature created a small gorge with brook running through and bed rock near the surface, an ideal location for the placement of mills. Less than a quarter mile upstream is a small lake, called by the first settlers, the Great Pond, which offered a steady supply of water. The length of the gorge proved sufficient for as many as five mills and their related buildings operating together, and these mills became the economic base for the small, but busy, industrial center known as Mill Hollow. This video talks about this history and the future plans for the last remaining mill, Chase’s Mill.
Seven to Save
In 2009, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance named Chase’s Mill to its “Seven to Save List.” The Preservation Alliance’s endangered properties list aims to draw attention and resources to irreplaceable New Hampshire landmarks. Listing provides a range of technical and financial support and helps attract roll-up-your-sleeves help for local advocates and their preservation projects. In October 2019, the Preservation Alliance filmed several Seven to Save champions, including MHHA board members Bob Brown and Helen Frink, about their projects, all at various stages of completion.