Capewell Glass Negative Collection



Folks:

This is an incredible photograph of the grist and saw mill in Almonesson, Deptford Township, Gloucester County. I have seen very few images of this mill and even the post card view in my collection is poor when compared with this photo!

Almonesson was originally known as Lambtown, named for Daniel Lamb, who constructed a cotton factory powered by a lake he created by damming the Almonesson Creek. He also constructed a one-story brick store at the site. During a spring freshet in March 1845, the dam burst and the ensuing torrent washed the mill away. Subsequent to this occurrence, Joseph Carrow purchased the mill seat and constructed a gristmill, but, this mill, like the cotton factory, was washed away by another freshet and dam failure in 1866. The partnership of G.D. Carman and Chalkley Ambler bought the mill seat and built the gristmill shown in Willceau’s photograph. The town changed its name to Almonesson when the United States Post Office Department opened the Almonesson Post Office in June 1872.

Sometime during 1900, L.D. Bozorth purchased the mill, the lake and the surrounding land and opened it as a resort in 1901. In the grove he constructed a dance pavilion, a merry-g0-round, swings, toboggan slide, etc., and the lake provided a wonderful experience for bathers and anglers. Bozorth did not permit adult beverages, so the grove made a wonderful site for Sunday School picnics. He also established an inn for those who wished to stay for a longer time than a day trip permitted. He operated the gristmill and a sawmill for a time, but by 1910, the mill was idled.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
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Teegate

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My moms sister lived at Almonesson Lake in the early 1950's. I will ask my mom about this and maybe she will have some information.
 
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Somebody disagrees with JerseyMan -- "DEFINITELY NOT Almonesson" in the comments section. What do you think?

http://willceau.com/news/2014/07/31/grist-and-saw-mill-in-almonesson/


Joe:

Sorry, but Bob is just plain wrong, despite him having resided in Almonesson since 1950. Here is a post card view of the mill and the bridge over the dam and it exactly matches these structures in your photograph:

Almonesson Mill.jpg


The only difference is the tree on the lake bank is gone in your photograph. Because this mill building was not erected until the late 1860s, it has an entirely different massing and fenestration pattern than mills constructed earlier in the Camden and Gloucester county area.

In found I could not paste the image into the comment box on your website, Joe, so feel free to clip and paste the image and the text into your website.

Best regards,
Jerseyman
 
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