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Sawmill
Located on the south side of route 49 below Cumberland Pond. Probably first built ca. 1800 or shortly thereafter following construction of the iron furnace. There probably were two mills, the last operated by Sam Cameron until 1915.
Early maps ca. 1820-1830 show three raceways at this location, although an 1831 map of Eli Budd's lands indicates only one. There is no question that the westernmost raceway served the furnace but maps differ on where the saw and grist mills were located.
A ca. 1820 map shows the furnace and an unidentified structure on the westernmost raceway. Two ca. 1830 maps show the furnace and unidentified structures on the 2 other raceways. The 1831 Budd map depicts the furnace and an unidentified structure west of a single raceway. An insert from the 1862 Pomeroy map of Cumberland County is even more vague. The furnace, gristmill and a store are west of the one raceway but too far away for the locations to be accurate. An 1876 Stewart's Atlas insert shows one raceway with a store and sawmill on the west side of the creek itself and an unidentified structure on the east side of the single raceway.
The furnace and grist mill ceased to operate about 1840 and it is possible that by 1862 the raceways had started to fill and were dry. A possible explanation of the differing map information may be that the grist mill was closed but still standing in 1862 and an early sawmill, probably on the first raceway had closed in 1862 but another was operating by 1876.
An undated newspaper clipping published by the Vineland Historical Society, a sales pitch to sell land in the Cumberland area, mentions a grist mill already erected on the lower dam and a saw mill, with machinery for planing and matching, soon to be running. It does not say the grist mill is operating, merely that it is there. Other statements in the ad place its publication at ca. 1870.
Both Otto and Cumberland resident Tom Brown recall that water for the Cameron saw mill was channeled though a cedar trough under the old iron bridge on Route 49. The bridge was replaced and the sites of the sawmill and a small store were obliterated when the highway was widened about 1930, they say.
_Jean Jones, Conservation Plan for the Manumuskin River Watershed
Located on the south side of route 49 below Cumberland Pond. Probably first built ca. 1800 or shortly thereafter following construction of the iron furnace. There probably were two mills, the last operated by Sam Cameron until 1915.
Early maps ca. 1820-1830 show three raceways at this location, although an 1831 map of Eli Budd's lands indicates only one. There is no question that the westernmost raceway served the furnace but maps differ on where the saw and grist mills were located.
A ca. 1820 map shows the furnace and an unidentified structure on the westernmost raceway. Two ca. 1830 maps show the furnace and unidentified structures on the 2 other raceways. The 1831 Budd map depicts the furnace and an unidentified structure west of a single raceway. An insert from the 1862 Pomeroy map of Cumberland County is even more vague. The furnace, gristmill and a store are west of the one raceway but too far away for the locations to be accurate. An 1876 Stewart's Atlas insert shows one raceway with a store and sawmill on the west side of the creek itself and an unidentified structure on the east side of the single raceway.
The furnace and grist mill ceased to operate about 1840 and it is possible that by 1862 the raceways had started to fill and were dry. A possible explanation of the differing map information may be that the grist mill was closed but still standing in 1862 and an early sawmill, probably on the first raceway had closed in 1862 but another was operating by 1876.
An undated newspaper clipping published by the Vineland Historical Society, a sales pitch to sell land in the Cumberland area, mentions a grist mill already erected on the lower dam and a saw mill, with machinery for planing and matching, soon to be running. It does not say the grist mill is operating, merely that it is there. Other statements in the ad place its publication at ca. 1870.
Both Otto and Cumberland resident Tom Brown recall that water for the Cameron saw mill was channeled though a cedar trough under the old iron bridge on Route 49. The bridge was replaced and the sites of the sawmill and a small store were obliterated when the highway was widened about 1930, they say.
_Jean Jones, Conservation Plan for the Manumuskin River Watershed
