Question: At first glance this may look like a photo from the “Wild West.” It was taken during the 1880s on a busy street in the middle of the village of Baldwinsville. Do you know anything about this photo, its location or its subjects?
Last week’s answer: Last week’s mystery photo featured two large stones mounted horizontally, reminiscent of their original use as mill stones. Measuring 4 feet in diameter and 9 inches thick, the granite stones ground grist into flour.
The pair seen in this photo are on display in front of the town of Van Buren municipal building at the corner of Van Buren and Ellsworth roads. Discovered in Van Buren’s Whiskey Hollow area by Town Councilman Harvey Geist, in 1972 the stones were recovered by the public works department and hauled to the town hall.
As part of its celebration of the American Bicentennial in 1976, Van Buren created a focal point in front of the town hall using the mill stones and a large pole bearing the United States flag. In 1981 the Beauchamp Historical Club added a brass plaque noting the “Mill Stones from Whiskey Hollow one of the first mills in this locality.”
Two hundred years ago a moderately large stream flowed down the hillside of Whiskey Hollow and into Dead Creek. Channeled by an earthen dam, the flow was sufficient to turn a water wheel thus powering a mill. Saw mills came first, with a series of grist mills following soon after. When one ceased to exist, its site and/or equipment was used by a successor operation. Early mills were found in the areas of Whiskey Hollow and its nearby neighbor to the north, Bangall, now called Sand Springs. Both were on the Whiskey Hollow creek’s path to Dead Creek.
By 1817 there was a grist mill in the hollow. It is unknown today which mill or mills were the original owner of the mill stones in front of the town hall. The Whiskey Hollow stream no longer flows with vigor. Its earthen dams have collapsed; its grist and saw mills have rotted away. The glen holds memories and tales of eccentric inhabitants, bootleg distilleries, shingle makers and hermits. Its days of Boy Scout camp outs, picnics and destination of Sunday afternoon drivers have given way to its fame as a wild flower habitat and source of prized spring water.
Today the mill stones on Van Buren Road are the only tangible vestige of a once busy area that is now little more than a bumpy inclined road with a mysterious past and unusual romantic name.
Lani Beardsley was the first person to comment with the correct answer on the Messenger’s Facebook page.
Email your guess to [email protected] or leave a message at 315-434-8889 ext. 332 with your guess by noon Friday. If you are the first person to correctly identify an element in the photo before the deadline, your name and guess will appear in next week’s newspaper, along with another History Mystery feature. History Mystery is a joint project of the Museum at the Shacksboro Schoolhouse and the Baldwinsville Public Library.
