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The Trip Hammer Shop in the center back

Preservation Timber Framing, Inc. from Berwick, ME, is the same company that repaired Mill No. 1’s timber trusses and frame. They are now preparing rafters, tie beams, floor joists, and wall plates to carry out repairs to Building No. 3, the Trip Hammer Shop.

Tom, hard at work

Careful measurements

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Cheshire Mills Rope Drive, 1938

On June 4, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order allowing Historic Harrisville Inc. to redevelop the hydroelectric capability that powered Cheshire Mills for nearly 100 years. The approval came in the form of an Exemption from Licensing, based on the fact that the project is small (under 5 megawatts) and uses an existing dam. Winning approval was a 3-year-plus process.

The development of waterpower in Harrisville began in 1774, when Abel Twitchell harnessed a portion of the “v flow” to power a grist and sawmill. From the opening of the Cheshire Mills in 1851 until 1947, when electricity was purchased to provide all motive power, water provided the majority of power for manufacturing on this site.

HHI Energy Committee inspecting the turbine

Since easily harnessed waterpower made the existence of Harrisville possible, it is desirable that the waterways, dams and other waterpower features be preserved. Ideally, these features should be restored to their functional meaning for their significant historic value.In 2009, the historic significance of waterpower in Harrisville, the possibility of reusing existing equipment, a commitment to environmental responsibility, and the uncertainty of fuel costs, led Historic Harrisville to apply to FERC for an Exemption from Licensing. With the Exemption in hand, we are moving forward with the reestablishment of waterpower as a renewable source of energy for the Cheshire Mills. The order granting the Exemption is made up of 21 pages of requirements (lest you think we’re free of restrictions and oversight).

The existing hydropower installation includes the dam, walkway, splashboards, trashracks, headgate and slides, penstock, 180 KW turbine, generator, and governor. The existing turbine and related equipment were installed in 1976 and operated until April 1990 by the former owner. Much of the equipment to produce hydroelectric power is in place and can be repaired. New switchgear, generator, transformers, and an inverter are needed to meet current standards. The operation will not require increased impoundment of water, but rather will rely on the run of the river. The upstream ponds will not be drawn down for the benefit of power production.

Cheshire Mills Rope Drive, 1938

Once the equipment is repaired and supplemented, waterpower has the potential of dramatically reducing energy costs by replacing kilowatt hours currently purchased from PSNH with hydro-generated kilowatt hours. The net metering regulations in New Hampshire enhance the viability of the project. For a nonprofit competing for business tenants in a rural area, the prospect of hydropower is compelling. It will help keep us competitive by keeping costs down and providing a niche opportunity to attract industries that are interested in clean energy and locating in historic buildings in a unique setting.

Putting the technology that built Harrisville back into operation will demonstrate that recognizing the positive aspects of the past can provide straightforward, green solutions to contemporary issues that are local, national, and global in scope. In Harrisville hydropower is possible, environmentally friendly, fiscally responsible, and historically appropriate. By Executive Director, Linda Willett

The post Watershed Year for Cheshire Mills Hydro Project appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

Historic Harrisville Annual Meeting of Incorporators
Saturday, April 12, 2014, 10:00 AM
Cheshire Mills Complex, Mill No. 2, First Floor

Using archival 2D photos, drawings and maps of the Village, Tom Weller and Charles Michal are experimenting with ways to transform those images into a 3D interactive world using a popular Google Earth computer modeling software called SketchUp. Next they are adding the 4^th dimension (space and time in a cyberspace dimension) to build an explorable timeline of the construction and deconstruction of the Village of Harrisville over the past 200 plus years.

The post A SketchUp “Time Machine” for the Village of Harrisville appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

First, it was awarded a grant by New Hampshire’s Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) to rehabilitate the Trip Hammer Shop, the small two-story brick building at the southern end of the Cheshire Mills Complex. Built ca. 1844 or before, and purchased by Cheshire Mills in 1859, it is the oldest structure on the mill site, was probably built by Calmer Harris, and initially was used as a machine shop.Timber frame, roofing, masonry, and carpentry work will begin early in the spring. When completed, it will provide two apartments for HHI’s affordable housing program.

Secondly, an application to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) renewable energy generation program won approval. The grant enables HHI to install pellet boilers that will help heat the Cheshire Mills Complex by providing heated water to the mill’s existing distribution system. When installed and fully functioning, the pellet boilers will reduce energy costs by replacing some of the fossil fuel used with a source of renewable energy. This biomass project, along with the reestablishment of waterpower as a source of electricity for the mill, will move HHI forward in its efforts to conserve energy and reduce its carbon footprint.  By Linda Willett

The post New Projects at HHI appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

Duffy and Rick Monahon

On Sunday, January 27, 2013, Rick Monahon and his wife, Duffy, were killed in a tragic automobile accident in Hillsborough, NH, as they were returning from a day of skiing at Mount Sunapee. Rick was one of the major figures in the history of Historic Harrisville; much of the success and reputation of the foundation is based on his efforts and talents. In 1972 he was hired as the architect for Historic Harrisville and he was functioning actively in that role when he died. He served as a Trustee from 1974 to 1998 and as Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 1984 to l986.

Historic Harrisville was founded in the spring of l971, soon followed by the purchase of what we called the “six historic core buildings” in the last days of that year. Those six buildings were the Harris Storehouse, the Harris Mill, the Harris Boarding House, the Harris Boiler House, the Harris Sorting & Picker House and the Cheshire Mills Boarding House. As we moved into l972, we developed the plan that called for “recycling” the old industrial buildings so that they could be rented out and essentially support themselves. It was immediately obvious that we would need a special architect to assist us, one who would be sensitive to the important historic qualities of our buildings, clever enough to adapt them for modern uses, and capable of working happily within our very limited budget.

Someone at Sturbridge Village knew that Rick had written his thesis at MIT School of Architecture about adaptive reuse of the mills in Claremont, NH, and he suggested that we might give Rick a call. We did that, Rick came to Harrisville for an interview, and we knew immediately that he was just what we needed. Still a student at MIT and not yet a registered architect, Rick developed a plan for the Harris Storehouse and we were off and running. He purchased a house in Harrisville and eventually set up an office in Peterborough where he carried on his general practice with a special interest in preservation.

Robbins Milbank, a founding member of HHI, and Rick Monahon in the Harris Storehouse, 1983

Rick’s contribution to Historic Harrisville cannot be overstated. He generously donated his time and energy to solving the problems of making what were beautiful but worn out buildings functional once again. He did it with style and grace, and the beauty and energy of the village today is a testament to his talents. He will be greatly missed, and not soon forgotten.  By Chick Colony

The post Remembering Rick Monahon appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

The Carriage House cupola was removed for repair in Fred O’Connor’s worshop

Repairs to the Eagle Hall Carriage House have generated a lot of interest and many questions as to why Historic Harrisville chose to undertake the extraordinary measures necessary to keep the original structure standing rather than take it down. The bowing walls and sagging roof made it clear to even the most casual observer that the building was standing out of habit. The decision to save the carriage house, and the choices made in determining how to approach it, are based on Historic Harrisville’s commitment to preserving the quality and historical significance of the village. Preserving historical significance requires that the historic design and setting of not only the buildings, but also of the group of buildings, is maintained. Each building is part of the pattern of village life and the loss of a building erodes the overall pattern and thereby the national historical significance of the village. Although the earlier changes had reduced its significance as an individual building, the carriage house continues to hold its place in the landscape, in the setting of the village, and as part of the store building complex.

When the carriage house was acquired as part of the store complex it had been altered to meet the requirements of a change in use to housing. The need for a place to keep a horse, carriage, and tack had long since passed by the 1980s when the carriage house was converted to housing by its previous owner. At that time, the wide openings for carriage and hay doors at the façade were closed in and double-hung sash installed; changes were also made to the other elevations and to the interior, to accommodate residential use. The conversion notwithstanding, it is still possible to read the site and the building and understand the purpose for which the carriage house was built.

Once the decision was made to save the carriage house, the options for treatment were:

1. preservation, which focuses on the maintenance and repair of existing historic materials; 2. restoration, which depicts a property at a particular period of time in its history, while removing evidence of other periods; or 3. rehabilitation, which acknowledges the need to alter a property to meet continuing or changing uses while retaining the property’s historic character.

The choice of treatment depends on a variety of factors, including the property’s historical significance, physical condition, proposed use, and intended interpretation. Since there was little historic material to repair, no reason to interpret the building at an earlier period of time, and the carriage house had been changed to accommodate a new use, rehabilitation was the choice.

A concrete foundation was poured, the wall framing extensively repaired, and the roof reframed before the installation of a new roof. An application was filed with the Historic District Commission seeking approval to replace the quadruple casement window at the southwest corner with three new double-hung frames and sash, re-fit the existing 1980s window openings at the façade with new six-over-six, double-hung sash, and install louvers in the oculus and cupola. The possibility of re-establishing the large carriage house door on the façade was considered. To do so without putting back the hay door above it and eliminating the 1980s window openings would create an appearance for the building that never existed. It would also have reduced the viability of the residential use that was established in the earlier conversion. The cupola, removed from the roof and moved to Fred’s shop for repairs, will be lifted back onto the roof in the spring when the work on the exterior is completed. Its wingless, bullet hole-ridden eagle is likely facing replacement, a rare occurrence for anything that lands in Fred’s shop.

Like the carriage house, the nearby St. Denis Church and the old Selectmen’s Office have outlived the purposes for which they were built. With the help of the Planning Board we hope to determine how these buildings on Church Hill can best serve the needs of the village.

Sadly, the rehabilitation of the Eagle Hall Carriage House is the last project that Rick Monahon designed for Historic Harrisville. In a very small way it reflects his 40-year interest in what he, in his master’s thesis, termed “Adaptive Re-use of Residual Built Form.” The thesis presents a broad view of mills that includes their history, settings, design, buildings, materials, technology, energy production and consumption, arguments for adaptive re-use, and pretty much everything else having anything to do with mills and mill villages. How fortunate for Harrisville that Rick came along when he did and that he stayed.  By Linda Willett

The post The Eagle Hall Carriage House appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

New copper roof over the porch at the Harrisville General Store

The mill village, we can modestly boast, has never been more beautiful. With major preservation projects completed, Historic Harrisville looks back over the past 40 years confident that the dream we dreamed in 1971 has mostly come true.

The innovative economic model that we created called for renting our buildings, using that income to support the ongoing work of the foundation, and strengthening the economic vitality of the town by increasing its tax base. It worked. Most of the rental spaces in our restored buildings are occupied by an eclectic group of tenants who enrich the social life of the village.

Fred O’Connor
Repairing and repointing brick masonry
inside the Sorting and Picker House

In spring 2012 we launched a capital campaign to raise $1.5 million to finish much of what remains. As donations come in we are working our way through smaller repair projects that have been deferred for far too long: scraping and painting clapboard siding and window sash, repointing brick masonry, roof replacements, insulation, rebuilding stone retaining walls, drainage, and paving. In all, nine buildings are targeted for repair.

Trip Hammer Shop

Eagle Hall Barn

Three buildings  — the Trip Hammer Shop, the Mackey House, and the Eagle Hall Barn — will undergo major rehabilitation and, when completed, add five new apartments to Historic Harrisville’s affordable housing program. As these buildings wait their turn, their sad condition in this otherwise beautifully preserved site is a constant reminder of how far we have come in 40 years and, indeed, what might have been.

Waterpower!

Unique among the capital campaign projects is our plan to bring waterpower back to the Cheshire Mills complex. That process is already underway. Waterpower from Goose Brook built the factory village, so reconnecting with that energy will bring us historically full-circle. At the same time it is the forward-looking, smart, and environmentally correct thing to do.

A tax-deductible contribution is your investment in a place unique in America and treasured by all who know it. 

The post 40th Anniversary Campaign appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

Since 1972, Historic Harrisville has been leasing commercial space in rehabilitated mill buildings that offer unique spaces in a picturesque country setting.

The Village

Harrisville is a unique mill village that preserves the scale and setting of the numerous mill villages that were built on waterpower sites throughout New England prior to the Civil War, during the early stages of America’s Industrial Revolution. Today the village retains its two early textile mills together with a range of related buildings – boarding houses, workers’ cottages, owners’ houses, a store, meeting house, school, dams and mill ponds – in an isolated rural setting free from highways and automobile related sprawl.

Of the many small mill villages that developed in New England in the first half of the nineteenth century, Harrisville alone has survived in its original form due to the continuous successful operation of the Cheshire Mills from 1852 through 1970. Harrisville’s significance as one of the best-preserved industrial communities in America was recognized in 1977 with a National Historic Landmark designation.

Cheshire Mills Complex: Mill No. 6 (left),
Mill No. 1 (center), Mill No. 2 (right)

SPACES FOR LEASE: 

Cheshire Mill No. 1:  Lower Level and
First Floor Office Space

Cheshire Mill No. 1: Lower Level

Plenty of windows provide a generous amount of natural light to this atypical light industrial space. Approximately 4200 square feet of open space allows for individual fit up. Rushing water view, grade level access, parking and sufficient electrical power. An opportunity to lease space in a landmark building.

There’s also a first floor office space available–585 square feet straddling the rushing water view below. DSL is available. Heat and electricity are included. Walking distance to general store and post office.

 Cheshire Mill No. 2:  First Floor

Cheshire Mill No. 2: First Floor

A bright and inviting office suite for lease on the first floor of Mill No. 2. Windows on three sides of this 2400 square foot space provide an abundance of natural light. Finished hardwood floors and high ceilings complement the attractiveness of this fine space. Handicap accessibility, Fairpoint DSL and courier services available.  A short walk to the post office and general store.

 Sorting and Picker House
First Floor Space Still Available

Sorting and Picker House

There is 900 square feet of first floor space available in the Sorting and Picker House. Constructed shortly after the mill was completed, this two-story, gable-roofed, five-bay building was used for processing raw wool before it entered the mill. Sited at the northern section of the mill property, it provides a quiet, but visible location. This two-story building has  approximately 3770 total square feet of commercial space. Each floor is approximately 1885 square feet, with an open concept floor plan. At the present time, it is divided into four rental units. On-site parking, oil heat, Fairpoint DSL, daily courier services, walking distance to the general store and post office.

 Also, for your Convenience, in Harrisville Village:

The Harrisville General Store

The Harrisville General Store

Operated by Historic Harrisville, the Harrisville Store offers local meat, eggs and produce along with a good selection of other grocery and general merchandise. The store’s café provides good coffee, irresistible baked goods, and a variety of wonderful lunch offerings.

The Harrisville Children’s Center

Cheshire Mills Boarding House

Located in the Cheshire Mills Boarding House and founded in the same year as Historic Harrisville, the Harrisville Children’s Center provides quality childcare and early education for children from infancy to age six.

The post Locate your Business in the Historic Village of Harrisville appeared first on Historic Harrisville.

Chick and Pat Colony

Nearly everyone who lives in or near Harrisville knows the Colony family, owners and operators of Cheshire Mills over several generations until its closing in 1970. In addition to eldest son, John J. (Chick) Colony III, many members of the family still live here and are part of the fabric of the community, although Chick may be the one who is most in the public eye. Tall, with a friendly look-you-in-the-eye gaze, he can be seen most days walking with a relaxed purposeful gait between his home and the Harrisville Designs office or to the General Store for lunch, or around the waterways and mill buildings.

Some people wear a lot of hats. Chick wears at least three, but they each would bear the word “Harrisville” on the metaphorical brim. Like hats, purposes can be multiple: for example, as co-owner of Harrisville Designs with his wife, lifelong Harrisville resident, Patricia Colony, he keeps the textile tradition alive in Harrisville; as a trustee of Historic Harrisville, where I am a fellow trustee, he works to preserve the mill buildings and to lease them out as workspaces and affordable housing; and, as town moderator for Harrisville, he facilitates the annual Town Meeting. Harrisville is also his home where he and Pat have raised their three sons.

Interviewing him this past July, I tried to keep track of which hat he was wearing as he was talking, continually switching his meaning as he used the words “we” and “they,” depending on the subject.

Both Harrisville Designs and Historic Harrisville shared a 40th anniversary in 2011. The occasion gave Chick a story to tell, first, as a founder of Historic Harrisville, Inc., and second, as its longest and still largest tenant. The following brief history is paraphrased from the Harrisville Designs website:

Harrisville Designs has been spinning 100% Virgin Wool Yarn in Harrisville, New Hampshire for 40 years. As one of a handful of woolen mills left in this country, Harrisville’s textile tradition is rich and dates back to 1794 when the first of several mills was built spanning the Nubanusit Brook to harness the water power necessary for carding fleeces. The Harris family built many of the original mill buildings as well as houses for the Harris family members and mill workers. Faulkner and Colony of Keene purchased the granite mill in 1850 and created Cheshire Mills, which quickly expanded. In 1887, the Colonys bought out the Harris holdings.

When Cheshire Mills closed its doors in 1970, a group of citizens and preservationists joined together to form a nonprofit organization calling itself Historic Harrisville, Inc., which immediately purchased several of the buildings to restore and lease out to businesses.

John J. Colony III was instrumental in this endeavor. As the mill buildings were being cleared out and machinery was being destroyed and sold for scrap metal, he quickly realized that textiles would be completely erased from the village. He started Harrisville Designs in 1971 to keep the textile tradition alive and to create jobs in Harrisville for the economic vitality of the town, leasing space from Historic Harrisville to give that organization income to help keep it viable.

Harrisville Designs now has 25 employees, nearly half of whom are from Harrisville or neighboring towns. “Theoretically, I’m the chief executive but I’m not a very good manager,” says Chick. “I like to do my own job and let other people do theirs. So it depends on having really good people that I can trust.”

Harrisville Designs is very complex for a small business, according to Chick. “We’ve got a marketing department, a graphics department, an advertising department and everything else. We not only manufacture things, we also sell them and advertise them and design them and all that stuff, and we print the catalogues and do all our own graphics.”

Harrisville Designs shares not only a birth year with Historic Harrisville, but shares its risky beginnings, too. As Chick says, “They were both a bit shaky – experiments in a way – but thin ice is what it’s all about, right? Pain is progress. At the time, there really was no Historic Harrisville to do anything for Harrisville Designs. They turned the Harris Storehouse over to us. We had to maintain it, and we had to pay the taxes on it. When the General Store opened around 2000 we moved the Harrisville Designs store to the Harris Mill. We kept our offices at the Harris Storehouse until we moved here (Mill No.1) two years ago. This is the best space we’ve had and I’m not going to move out of this office.”

Before Linda Willett was hired as executive director of Historic Harrisville in 1999, Historic Harrisville had so-called net leases, where the tenants were responsible for all the expenses and took care of the buildings themselves. Chick says, “Linda could see clearly that some tenants were better at maintaining their buildings than others. Gradually it seemed to make sense for the management of the buildings to be on the landlord side, which meant that rents could be higher and tenant expenses could be lower. But it depends on the building – where you can identify things specific to the building, you can put it into the lease. Here at the Mill, tenants don’t pay the building expenses, but in the Harris Storehouse, which is available now, the rental part is a smaller amount because the tenant also pays the expenses. It’s better this way, because we have Linda who can look at the buildings and figure it out.”

Harrisville Designs’ relationship with Historic Harrisville is unique. As Chick says, “I am a more informed tenant because I wear both hats, but that’s good and bad. It’s good because I’m comfortable with the landlord – when the roof leaks, I don’t worry too much about it – but, more important, having a close relationship with preservation makes Harrisville Designs a better, more interesting business. The bad part is sometimes I make business decisions that are better for Historic Harrisville than Harrisville Designs, like moving the office around when we were starting out because buildings were vacant. It works both ways, but it’s a good relationship, I think. As a tenant, Harrisville Designs certainly appreciates all the spaces and the opportunities Historic Harrisville has given us.”

At a coffee hour in early December, hosted by Historic Harrisville Trustees for HHI tenants, I met several employees of Harrisville Designs, including Diane (Dee) Miller, who is the bookkeeper. She moved here from Merrimack with her husband and their son James, who recently graduated from Keene High School, and now works in the woodworking shop, doing packaging and making looms. His co-worker, a young woman named Devin, is from Swanzey, and her Mom works in the shipping department. “This is like a family place,” says Dee. When I toured the shop later, I saw Devin and James and other people at work around a table, and Devin commented, “We’re Santa’s little elves,” which was certainly apt.

I also met Sharon Wilder who now manages the woodworking shop and purchasing. Her grandfather had worked here, and she has returned to the area after a brief time away. She had previously worked at Harrisville Designs for 18 years, 10 in the shop as a woodworker, and the rest in marketing and sales during which time she also managed the retail store. She proudly showed me the children’s lap loom, a very popular item, and said, referring to the orders being received, “It’s a crazy time now.” Louisa Walker, Educational Sales Coordinators, does the WoolWorks Curriculum program. She works with Lorna McMaster who, with Chick, created the curriculum. The curriculum teaches math concepts using weaving or knitting, chemistry by natural dyeing, and history and geography through the history of wool and fiber arts. Louisa had just gotten back from the Girl Scouts’ 100th anniversary convention in Texas where, as she excitedly described to me, “At Harrisville Designs’ 10-by-10 booth, there were over 100 girls, clustering around the booth, and weaving!”

There are a lot of other tenants, some familiar to villagers – the residential tenants, studio artists, the busy Harrisville Children’s Center, motorcycle builder Walter Siegl, Yoga instructor Kathleen Vetter, fiber artist Marylou Dipietro – and others tucked away. I met Pearse O’Byrne, actor, short story writer, stringed instrument maker – especially the 16th century viola – who lived for a time in New York, working at the Irish Repertory Theatre, where he did a production of James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake adapted by Shelagh Fogarty. In his studio above the Harrisville Children’s Center, which consists of two large bright rooms, he spends time going back and forth between them, writing in one and working on his instruments in the other – “maybe it’s a right brain left brain thing, but I’m not sure.”

Chick feels strongly that tenants need to hear the Historic Harrisville story so that they feel part of the program from the beginning. “If we reduce the relationship to tenant-landlord, to pure real estate, then tenants are going to expect more from Historic Harrisville, and be less sympathetic to Historic Harrisville’s mission. Getting the tenants together so they feel they are a part of the story will solve that. This is a special real estate opportunity and that’s not conveyed in the listings. After they get here, the tenants share the pride.”

“The Harris Storehouse is a showpiece, our loveliest building. I loved being there as a tenant for over 30 years – it was the first building Historic Harrisville did and it was very exciting when we did it. The best kind of use for it would be a studio and showroom, using the upstairs for someone to build furniture, for example, and having a showroom downstairs. A potter would fit in well, too; it’s perfect for a working studio of some kind. Or it could be an office space, too, like an architect’s office.”

By the end of our interview, I realized that Chick’s passion encompasses all of Harrisville – past, present, and future. As I listened to him talk about his business, preservation, and investment in Harrisville’s economic well-being, I noticed that most often he used the word “we.” I sensed that, to him, ultimately, there is no “they.”

The post A Double Celebration: Historic Harrisville and Harrisville Designs Turn Forty appeared first on Historic Harrisville.