April 11, 2010. The internet made mentioned of HISTORIC Clinton, New Jersey so we traveled to Clinton to see what was Historic We came upon the Red Mill Museum Village to discover the answer. The Red Mill Museum staff explained about the 11 outside buildings and the 4 floors inside the Red Mill building. We opted for the outdoor walk first.
We came upon the Stone Crusher and Screen house. Behind this building and running along a tall ridge was a quarry of Limestone. The limestone was dynamited and loaded into the Stone Crusher. Within this building, the large chunks of Limestone were pulverized into smaller chunks and the screen "sorted" the result into 4 sizes that would fall into chutes to be loaded onto wagons at the bottom of the building.
A few yards away was the Quarry office with mechanisms connected to an outside scale for weighing limestone. All financial transactions were generated and completed in this office.
A short walk and we were at the Carriage shed. Originally to shelter horses and carriages, it is now a museum of many hundreds of equipments and tools of the era. Instructive signs were nearby explaining the function of each device.
This device was particularly interesting, it was a treadmill where two horses would walk and the treadmill would move belts and provide power for running other equipment.
The Spring House was a protective building for drinking water and the cool water was flowing over food and drink to keep it cool.
The Morgan log cabin was typical of the time. If the small bed was to scale, the folks at this time in history were very short !
No indoor plumbing during this phase of history.
Constructed in 1860 was this one room school house. The students were in class 8 hours a day. One of the Teacher's Rules of 1872 was: "The teacher who performs his labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five cents per week in his pay providing the board of education approves."
This tenant house was a two-family dwelling.
Today, the tenant building is also an exhibit as a general store.
The blacksmith shop was an important function to keep horses and machinery running and today it is still a working exhibit.
The giant Kilns heated limestone into a powder used for fertilizer, whitewash and for sanitation.
We returned to the Red Mill Museum building and visited 4 floors of a most interesting view of the mill and of those historic times. What was interesting was that even though the main flow of water was shut off to the water wheel, it still occasionally turned while we were present.
What we found unique was an ICE BICYCLE. It had a spiked rear wheel and a sled like rail.
The Red Mill Museum Village was very informative and as we left, I took a couple of photos of the building and the waterfall.
It was a great weather day with temperatures in the 70's so we walked around town.
We had a reservation at the Clinton House, so we walked across the river and had a really great dinner !
Another fine day trip and when special events are held In Clinton this summer, we will be back.