Hanford Mills Museum Celebrates 50 Fascinating Years

It's come a long way in the last decade. -Kajsa Harley, Hanford Mills Museum Executive Director

Located in East Meredith, New York, Hanford Mills Museum was previously a grist mill and a sawmill that is now considered a historic district, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

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According to the museum's website:

An operating mill site since 1846, Hanford Mills has harnessed the waters of Kortright Creek to support itself and its surrounding community for nearly 200 years. For the last fifty years, the mill has fulfilled this mission as a museum and historic mill site. By bringing to life historic choices and processes, the mill inspires exploration of the intersections between historic and current stories of community, energy, technology, and natural resources.

The museum contains 50,000 objects within its buildings and are of varied subjects. You'll find woodworking and grist milling machinery, domestic artifacts, wooden tool handles, plows and harrows, and gasoline engines. There are also extensive archives that house documents and records of business transactions associated with the mill property from the 1870s to the present.

In season, Hanford Mills Museum hosts a number of programs from old locomotion to exploring dairy systems to general agriculture. In the fall wood and metal working is explored. Conditions permitting, in February a traditional ice harvest is held.

This weekend is the museum's last hurrah for their 2023 season! They have an exhibit detailing their 50 year anniversary entitled "A Treasure In Our Valley," located in the museum's Feed Mill building. The museum is located at 51 County Highway 12, East Meredith, NY.