Ten Mile Brook

Dear Diary,

We are finally out of the deep freeze with temperatures in the upper 30'sF.  What a relief.  I didn't even bother with a fire in the wood stove last night.  And the good news is no big storms are predicted so all is well on that front.

I took the opportunity to take a short walk to Ten Mile Brook that skirts the edge of my property to see  how it was dealing with this odd winter.  Normally, by late January, it would be mostly iced over but today it had lots of open places and was really quite interesting to look at.  I've added a close up as an extra.

There was a mill on this brook back in the mid-1800's, around the time my house was built.  It was a shingle mill making wooden shingles for houses and barns.  I've found a small cellar hole on my property that I think was for a building where they sold the shingles. 

New England was full of these sorts of small mills in the 19th century, taking advantage of the many rivers and streams.  Further up stream is a large stone retaining wall that had an iron gate that could hold back water and create a small pond.  The water would be released as needed to power the mill. 

Exploring the New England landscape is my theme for this year and I thought I could begin with my own backyard!